Taking the State of the Nation Address to the people

State of the Nation Address 2013

Communities across South Africa were able to view President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on 14 February 2013 at public viewing sites set up by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS).

GCIS is responsible for communicating Government policies and programmes to the public.

Activities included big-screen public-viewing events on the day of the speech which saw members of communities from Alexandra in Gauteng to Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, watch the address at community centres and halls. A total of 55 public-viewing sites were set up across the country.

Before the SoNA, GCIS also held a variety of build-up and mobilisation activities, ranging from live broadcast taxi rank activations in partnership with community radio stations, to door-to-door activations.

Most of the events were chaired by local political leaders, and this gave people an opportunity to interact with their leaders.

People turned up at the local viewing centres in great numbers. They included students; community members; learners; senior members of municipalities, business and academic communities and rural farming communities.

What people had to say about the SonA and the local viewing areas: