Parliament’s speaker Baleka Mbete announced on Tuesday that the state of the nation address has been postponed.
Mbete said: “We’ve decided to approach the president of the republic to postpone the state of the nation address.
“We need to create room for establishing a much more conducive atmosphere in Parliament.”
This comes after opposition parties requested that the speech, which President Jacob Zuma was scheduled to deliver on Thursday, be postponed until after a no-confidence vote on Zuma’s leadership.
The speaker of parliament has scheduled the no-confidence vote for February 22.
Zuma, whose presidency has been marred by graft scandals and economic decline, has been in a weakened position since he was replaced as leader of the ANC by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in December.
