Bathabile Dlamini to lead Women’s League in prayer for Sona

The league hopes the prayer will highlight the ruling party's successes and strengthen its relations with religious communities.

The ANC Women’s League will be holding a prayer service in preparation for the State of the Nation Address (Sona) that will be held in parliament on Thursday.

The purpose of the service, scheduled for Wednesday at 2pm in Cape Town, “is to place all the successes of the ANC-led government under the spotlight and strengthen relations between the religious community and the African National Congress”, said the league in a statement.

The league says it believes the ruling party is the only party that works closely with communities and can continue building on its achievements since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.

“It is only the ANC that can ensure that indeed our ANC-led Government lives to the expectations of the communities and address their basic needs.”

The league’s president Bathabile Dlamini will address the gathering, where the ANCWL leader will be present.

Meanwhile, EFF national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi is also preparing for yet another dramatic Sona episode by getting physically ready for the encounter.

This after an announcement on Tuesday that President Jacob Zuma had authorised an employment of 441 members of SANDF for Sona “to maintain law and order”.

The move has been highly criticised, with the EFF accusing the president of planning a murder. In a statement, the party said: “We condemn this initiative as the unleashing of the army on the people of South Africa. It must be seen as the declaration of war on citizens, which means Zuma is planning to murder those he disagrees with at the Sona.

“The military has no place in the maintenance of law and order, as the South African Police Services are given such a mandate. The military are people who get deployed for war and whose training is about killing the enemies of the state.”

The president’s Sona will be held in parliament at 7pm.