EDITORIAL | It took a pandemic, but Sona has finally been shorn of its pageantry

When President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his state of the nation address (Sona) a year ago, even the most pessimistic could scarcely have predicted how much everything would change and plummet downhill.

The country’s economy has been decimated as the coronavirus spread to all reaches of SA. Senior government officials, including one in the president’s office and cabinet, have been caught up in various corruption scandals. Alcohol and cigarette bans have seen the state hauled to court and anti-regulation protesters went to the beach to make themselves heard.

More than 46,470 Covid-19-related deaths have been recorded and nearly 1.48 million people have been infected. Our health systems have been pushed to the verge of collapse and our health-care workers have taken on deserved heroic status.

But one constant remains: every February the president addresses the nation. Except this time, even that is different. This year, Sona has been stripped-down. Covid-19 has hit parliament.

The Sunday Times reported last month that a “bling-free Sona” was on the cards. A media briefing has been called for Wednesday morning to outline the final plans, but it is likely it’ll be a Sona like none before.

We don’t want to spend a cent of that money at all because we have other needs.

—  National assembly speaker Thandi Modise

“There will be no red carpet, no fanfare, nothing like that,” one MP told the publication.

The usual red-carpet flair could be gone; the pomp and ceremony obliterated; the roads around the parliamentary precinct probably not locked down; and little to no fanfare in the public gallery. It is unlikely parliament’s security services will be needed, though in this regard it’s not out of the realms of possibility.

Most importantly, millions of rand will be saved.

Last month, national assembly speaker Thandi Modise said despite the R2.2m budget for Sona, parliament will not spend very much of it. In fact, “We don’t want to spend a cent of that money at all because we have other needs,” she said.

The only costs, suggested Modise, would be the those for the webinar “because we are not going to be serving anything other than water in the chamber”.

This can only be good. SA never did, now especially, need to drop R2m on what is essentially a vanity project.

Another important factor is that unlike in previous years, Sona 2021 comes against the backdrop of frequent “family meetings” since the outbreak of Covid-19 almost 11 months ago. We see and hear from the president often, so much so, analysts told Sunday Times Daily, that Ramaphosa might find it difficult to differentiate Sona from his regular addresses.

These things are what the nation needs: a visible president and considered spending. For the first time in a long time, on Thursday at 7pm when Ramaphosa speaks, we’ll have both.

There is little to be thankful for during a pandemic, but a reimagined Sona is one of them. This has to be the blueprint for the future.