Cyril won’t give elections date during Sona
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa, who is suffering from flu, will not announce the date of the 2024 elections when he delivers his State of the Nation Address (Sona) in Parliament tonight.
This is according to his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, following speculation and expectations in some quarters that Ramaphosa may or should announce the voting day.
“If you count from (Thursday), the president will announce the election date within 15 days as of (Thursday), so that should put everyone's mind at ease that the election date will be announced within 15 days as of tomorrow,” said Magwenya when briefing the media on Ramaphosa's public programme yesterday.
In terms of the Constitution, the elections should be held within three months after the end of term of the current administration – between May and August.
Magwenya indicated that there was no delay in announcing the election because there was never an agreed timeline to announce the date.
However, he hinted at the focus of the 2024 Sona, saying it was “different and unique” in many ways.
“I think it is important that it is allowed its own expression and that South Africans can take out the celebratory element of it. Remember, we are marking 30 years of our democratic dispensation and it is also the last Sona under this sixth administration,” he said.
Magwenya said the 2024 Sona will provide a reflection on the past 30 years coupled with an account of the work of the sixth administration in the last five years.
Magwenya also said Ramaphosa was making a good recovery from a bout of flu.
“He will be up to the task of addressing the nation at 7pm. Last night (Tuesday), we were with him until 10pm (going through the speech). By then he had improved quite significantly,” he said.
Following his address, Ramaphosa will play golf on Friday, attend the Sona debate next Tuesday and Wednesday, and deliver his reply on Thursday.
“We do expect on Valentine's Day there will be no love lost in the debate. This will be a manifestation of the robust and open nature of our democratic engagement,” he said in apparent reference to an anticipated tough debate.
Ramaphosa will deliver his address in the absence of suspended EFF leader Julius Malema and five other top party leaders. However, the EFF is unlikely to let him go despite the amended parliamentary rules making it an offence to disrupt him and raising points of order.
Meanwhile, the presidency confirmed that the details of the extension of SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Edward Kieswetter's tenure have not yet been finalised.
On Tuesday evening,the president's office said he was in discussion with Kieswetter about an orderly transition.
Magwenya said since there would be a transition of government administrations later this year, it was deemed important not to allow parallel leadership changes at Sars.
“The details of extension are yet to be finalised between the commissioner and the president, however, in principle an agreement has been reached to extend his tenure to enable that orderly transition as we announced,” he added.
“It is not out of the ordinary for the president and the commissioner to be concerned about ensuring that all of the work that has been done in the past five years is maintained and there is a level of continuity.”
Magwenya also said Ramaphosa was applying his mind before assenting to the National Health Insurance Bill, amid lobbying that he should not sign it.
“The president has a constitutional obligation to satisfy himself that the processes the bill has gone through will withstand scrutiny, that all submissions that were made during the public participation process were carefully considered before the bill was passed,” he said.
His legal team was hard at work, not only with the NHI Bill, but other bills sent for assent, said Magwenya.