State of the Nation Address (South Africa)

The State of the Nation Address of the President of South Africa (abbreviated SONA) is an annual event in the Republic of South Africa, in which the President of South Africa reports on the status of the nation, normally to the resumption of a joint sitting of Parliament (the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces).

The speech marks the opening of the parliamentary year and is usually attended by important political and governmental figures of South Africa, including former Presidents, the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court and other members of the judiciary, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, and Ambassadors and Diplomats to the Republic. The procession of the president into the joint session is accompanied by an imbongi reciting a praise poem for the president. The address is also preceded by the entrance of members of parliament, officials, celebrities and guests into the chamber on a red carpet, which is typically broadcast on television as a showcase of red carpet fashion.

The 2008 SONA marked the first address after the ousting of South African President Thabo Mbheki as President of the African National Congress (ANC) by former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, and also the absence of both former Presidents Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk and their respective spouses.

Titles in South African Official Languages

Because the Republic of South Africa has 11 Official languages, the State of the Nation Address is made available, either automatically or by request, in all of the official languages and published on the website of the Government Communications and Information Service (GCiS).

  • Afrikaans: Staatsrede van die President van Suid-Afrika
  • English: State of the Nation Address of the President of South Africa
  • isiNdebele: Ikulumo yesiTjhaba kaMongameli weSewula Afrika
  • isiXhosa: INtetho yeLizwe kaMongameli waseMzantsi Afrika
  • isiZulu: Inkulumo Kamongameli Wase Ningizimu Afrika Yesimo Sezwe
  • Sepedi: Polelo ya Setšhaba ka Mopresidente wa Afrika Borwa
  • Sesotho: Puo ya Mopresident wa Afrika Borwa
  • Setswana: Puo ya Maemo a Setšhaba ka Moporesitente wa Aforika Borwa
  • Siswati: Inkulumo leyetfulelwa sive ngumengameli weleNingizimu Afrika
  • Tshivenda: Mulaedza wa Lushaka wa Muphuresidennde wa Afrika Tshipembe
  • Xitsonga: Mbulavulo wo Pfula Palamende lowu endliweke hi Phuresidente wa Afrika Dzonga
gollark: Clearly federal law is bad then.
gollark: Laws being ignored reduces the stability and predictability of the legal system and adds room for discretion, which is bad.
gollark: Having better laws is better than randomly dropping laws when inconvenient.
gollark: Like the "online safety bill" and whatever policing things people are angry about here.
gollark: Yeeees, it seems like the particularly totalitarian stuff just gets shoved through without COVID-19 being hugely related.

See also
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