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Sona: Police forge ahead with ‘extremely panicky’ safety measures

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The police are unapologetic about security plans that are being set up for President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address on Thursday.

Chief operations officer Lieutenant General Bonang Mgwenya assured MPs in Parliament’s portfolio committee on police this morning that the South African Police Service had an operational plan that was ready to be rolled out.

“We will be unapologetic about exercising our duties on the day,” she said. She did not give any further details on this plan.

She was speaking amid criticism from opposition MPs that Parliament was “extremely panicky”, and this was why there was “complete overkill” when it came to the safety measures for the event.The police, who according to Parliament and the City of Cape Town are responsible for the security measures, held their cards close to their chest yesterday about what the public could expect.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said a press release would be issued later.

This came amid fears of a plan that a radius of 2km around Parliament would be cordoned off to the public. Naidoo would not confirm this.

But DA chief whip John Steenhuisen claimed that concerns over excessive security were being downplayed.

“Security is beefed up to avoid a civil society convergence on Parliament. It is reaching ridiculous proportions. All this money is spent for a single day’s pomp and ceremony – businesses and the public have to suffer because of this security and the week after the president will come to the same Parliament to engage the same MPs on Sona [the address] without this security. It is complete overkill.”

Parliament sent out an internal communique saying that staff who were not necessary for the state of the nation address should work from home.

A leader of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union confirmed, however, that it was not an unusual request.

Also, no tour groups would be accepted in Parliament this week.

Meanwhile, the Cape Town City Council sent out a statement saying that traffic would be disrupted from tonight, with some roads being closed for test runs for the state of the nation address.

From tomorrow various roads near Parliament would be closed for parking.

Three protests had been planned for Thursday before the address starts at 7pm.

These included about 1500 members of the Ses’khona movement, who wished to show their support for Zuma.

The #ZumaMustFall movement, which was expecting about 5000 protesters, would assemble at the Parade, and about 500 DA supporters would meet at the party’s federal head office, as depicted in the graphic.

This year’s state of the nation address was expected to cost taxpayers about R3.6 million.

National Freedom Party chief whip Munzoor Shaik-Emam said people were “making a big thing of nothing”, and the money should rather be spent elsewhere.

According to Agang leader Andries Tlouamma, people needed to realise that South Africa was a democracy, not a dictatorship.

“It feels like we will be going to a prison on Thursday.”

Freedom Front Plus chief whip Corné Mulder said Parliament was panicking because it wanted to avoid a situation like the one when students broke through Parliament’s gate.

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said: “It’s a balancing act between ensuring a seamless Sona and excessive panic. Something like the much-talked-about 2km radius no-go area around Parliament is definitely not in line with the spirit of a people’s Parliament.”

Parliament secretary Gengezi Mgidlana said earlier during a press conference that the safety measures were suited to such an important event.

The ANC meanwhile said it was looking forward to the state of the nation address, which would bring meaningful change to people’s lives.

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