Delaying the president’s state of the nation address earns praise by opposition
Speaker Baleka Mbete says they will ‘go all out’ to ensure the postponement of the address has no bearing on the tabling of the national budget February 22
A defiant President Jacob Zuma has suffered another major political setback after his state of the nation address scheduled for Thursday was postponed by at least a week. This comes as pressure continues to mount on Zuma to resign as president of the country, after he refused to do so on Sunday when the top six officials of the ANC asked him to step down. A series of meetings took place in Parliament on Wednesday, culminating in National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise announcing the postponement of the address‚ an unprecedented move. Mbete and Modise went to see Zuma following a meeting of the ANC’s political committee in Parliament‚ which provides strategic political guidance to the party’s parliamentary caucus. Mbete and Modise said when they proposed the postponement to Zuma‚ he indicated to them that he had actually been in the process of writing to them with a similar proposal. Modise said the initial idea was to postpo...
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