Parliament’s presiding officers Baleka Mbete and Thandi Modise on Tuesday afternoon announced the postponement of the State of the Nation Address by President Jacob Zuma on Thursday.

“We are listening to political stakeholders and members of the public in making this decision‚” Mbete told a hastily called press conference.

Mbete also revealed that “we are in continuing discussions with the president of the ANC (SA deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa) as he is the leader of government business in Parliament”.

“We are also in contact with all political parties.”

Mbete further said: “We learned that the president was already writing to Parliament to request the postponement”.

Modise said they needed to consider many things before the decision to postpone the 2018 SONA.

A new date for the SONA “will be communicated soon”‚ they said.