Zuma takes defence for his 2010 SONA

By Ofentse Mokae
16 February 2010

In his response to the debate on the state of the nation address, President Jacob Zuma took the first part to thank parliament on allowing them to hold the address at night.

Last week’s state of the nation address made history by being held for the first time at night.

Zuma said the idea to have the address at night was to allow every citizen the opportunity see follow the proceedings and hear the speech which he says was successful.

“As we had predicted, the results are phenomenal, according to audience measurement figures,” Zuma said.

The President was referring to the increase in the number of viewership in two of national broadcasters, which aired the speech live on Thursday evening.

Zuma highlighted the achievement made by government since 1994.

He however admitted that much is still needed to be done.

Responding to statements made by the opposition that his speech lacked detail, Zuma said if he was to give detail about the work of his government his speech would have taken a week.