Virtual signalling: Sopas get the Covid ‘hybrid’ treatment

A “hybrid” opening ceremony of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) will be held in the historic Overberg town of Genadendal on Wednesday, 17 February – the first opening of a provincial parliament in 2021. 

Premier Alan Winde will deliver his State of the Province Address (Sopa) and host the subsequent debate in the Emil Weder High School hall in Genadendal, via a live feed with the WCPP Chamber in Cape Town.  

This is the second time the Western Cape Sopa will be held outside the Cape Town legislature chambers, after it took place in Mitchells Plain in 2020.

Due to Covid-19 regulations and physical distancing restrictions, a maximum of 50 people are allowed in each venue. 

Proceedings will be live-streamed and some members will participate through an online platform.

The debate on the Sopa and the reply by the premier are scheduled to take place in the same venues and on the same platforms on Thursday, 18 February. 

“I look forward to delivering my Sopa speech on 17 February and detailing the work we have done, and the plans that the Western Cape government has put in place to ensure we are able to grow our economy and save jobs, create a safer Western Cape, and ensure that residents are able to live dignified lives of which they are proud,” said Winde. 

Ahead of his address, Winde outlined some of that work, as well as the province’s priority to procure Covid-19 vaccines. 

The ANC in the Western Cape Legislature “supports” provincial speaker Masizole Mnqasela’s decision to take the legislature to Genadendal, but condemns “wasteful expenditure on pomp and ceremony” and “limited community participation” at the event, said leader of the ANC in the legislature, Cameron Dugmore. 

Dugmore questioned the cost of the two-day event and raised concerns about the “compliance with Covid-19 regulations” during the hybrid session. 

“Almost R1.5-million was spent on last year’s Sopa without anyone from Mitchells Plain being given the opportunity to engage with the premier before or after the speech.” 

“The ANC insists that a limited number of community leaders, in compliance with Covid-19 pandemic regulations, must be allowed to speak,” added Dugmore. 

Virtual and ‘hybrid’ Sopas

Western Cape is the only known province that is taking the event physically into a community.

North West’s Sopa will take place on 25 February, the provincial legislature’s manager of communications, Sethunya Kgafela, told Daily Maverick.  

It would be a hybrid event, with only 33 members of the legislature (MPLs) attending physically, held under strict and “total adherence” to Covid-19 regulations. “For all members in the house, the compliance officer of the legislature will ensure that everyone in the precincts [complies].”

The opening of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature will take place on 25 and 26 February, senior manager of communications Sina Nxumalo said. 

Necessitated by the pandemic and adjusted Level 3 lockdown regulations, “the official opening and Sopa will be held in a hybrid format where some members of the legislature and guests will attend the event physically in the legislative chamber while others will attend virtually through online, social media and television platforms”. 

The opening of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature will be held on 5 March, said senior manager of communications Zamagambu Memela-Gamede.  

To ensure full compliance with Covid-19 and lockdown regulations, the event would be held virtually through Microsoft Teams. 

To ensure all the constituents of all the relevant parties attended while physically distancing, the legislature was securing media platforms including radio and television. 

“The whole programme will also be live on legislature social media pages including Facebook and YouTube. It is our belief that through these platforms we will be able to reach out to a number of people in the province,” Memela-Gamede told Daily Maverick.

Other provinces that were contacted by Daily Maverick were still finalising their SOPA plans.  DM

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