No delay in announcing election date, says Presidency
The Presidency says an election date will be announced within the next month.
Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya briefed the media in Cape Town on Wednesday.
There has been speculation in some quarters that President Cyril Ramaphosa would use his State of the Nation Address on Thursday to announce the election date.
Opposition parties have been vocal in their call for the president to announce a date as campaigning starts to ramp up ahead of the national and provincial elections.
“As you know, there has to be an allowance of 90 days to finalise preparation between the time the date is proclaimed and the actual date of elections, so there is no delay because there was never an agreed timeline as to when he will announce the date,” said Magwenya.
The new set of rules for a joint sitting of parliament, which will be in force for the first time during this year’s SONA, has also come in for criticism.
The rules bar anyone from interrupting the president during a State of the Nation Address or the opening of parliament.
“This State of the Nation Address is different and unique in so many ways, and I think it’s important it is allowed its own expression and that South Africans can take out of it the sort of celebratory element of it,” Magwenya said.
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