Who gets to see SONA?

The Presidency‚ like the rest of the country‚ is cash-strapped — so much so that it is cutting down on the number of people it can invite to the State of the Nation Address.

In a statement on Tuesday‚ the Presidency said it did “not have sufficient tickets to meet the demand of people who wish to attend the State of the Nation Address‚ (SONA)‚ in Cape Town on 11 February 2016”.

It said that in previous years‚ the Presidency “organised an overflow viewing area at the President’s Cape Town office‚ Tuynhuys‚ for stakeholders which included invitations to the SONA banquet which is hosted by Parliament”.

But this year‚ “the Presidency will regrettably not be able to invite overflow guests due to the depressed economic climate”.

So who does get to see the event from the pound seats?

The statement said President Jacob Zuma was allocated 40 seats‚ “20 tickets to invite key stakeholders and people who will be mentioned in the SONA. The other 20 are utilised for the guests of the Deputy President.”

Lucky stakeholders!