There’s nothing quite like an inconvenient power failure during a State of the Nation Address (SONA) to deliver a particularly striking message about the true state of said nation.

So to prevent that from happening, parliament has been in talks with Eskom to ensure that, barring catastrophes, power will remain on for the duration.

Parliament secretary Gengezi Mgidlana told a gathering of journalists on Wednesday that “We have been in discussion with Eskom to make appropriate arrangements to ensure that our proceedings can go through without interruption,” according to a Sapa report on Times Live.

But he also emphasised that he can’t provide a “total guarantee”, and that a crisis or emergency at the utility was still a possibility during the address.

The State of the Nation Address is set to take place next Thursday, February 12, at 7pm, when President Jacob Zuma will deliver a speech on “government’s achievements of the past year and [look] to the future by presenting a programme for the coming year”, according to www.gov.za.

The South African government solicited input on the SONA recently from average citizens by asking them to offer suggestions as to what they’d like to hear about from the President via Twitter.

[Source – Sapa, Image – Wongm]