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The State Opening of Parliament

The State Opening of Parliament has always been an occasion of great ceremony, most especially so on the one occasion when the King of South Africa himself was actually present. When South Africa became a republic in 1961, the State President took the role of the Governor-General. While formerly centered on the old main entrance, the President now enters Parliament at the 1983 wing (as seen at right), where he is greeted by a guard of honour and pauses to hear the National Anthem played by a military band.

Before 1994, morning dress was the norm for the State President (and for the Governor-General before him), but since that time the head of state has tended to wear a business suit on the occasion. That doesn’t stop the other Members of Parliament and their spouses from dressing up. There’s an unspoken contest among female MPs and MPs’ wives to wear the most daring or arresting hat to the State Opening, and often tribal leaders attend in the traditional dress of their peoples.

L-to-R: Denise Robinson MP (Shadow Minister for Women), Denise Michael MP (Shadow Deputy Minister of Justice), the late Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang MP (fmr. Minister of Health), Dianne Kohler Barnard MP (Shadow Minister of Police), and Juanita Terblanche MP (Shadow Minister of Home Affairs).

In February 2009, Prince Patekile Holomisa (head of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa) wore an ordinary black suit instead of tribal dress as a protest against the lack of proper recognition of South Africa’s thirteen traditional kings by the national government.

Suzanne Vos, an MP for the conservative Inkatha Freedom Party, was criticized for wearing an ivory bracelet to that State Opening, but explained that it was a family heirloom from long before the ivory ban was enacted.

One ANC lady-MP is known for specially commissioning a new dress from a high-end designer for each opening of parliament.

Traditional dress being popular for Black-African attendees, Pieter Mulder of the Afrikaner party VF+ wondered what his equivalent might be. “It’s very difficult. I asked someone what is Afrikaner traditional, and they’re still puzzling it out. The problem is, if you go for khaki you’re in trouble; you’re AWB.” But of course, for Africans of European descent, morning dress is traditional. (It is, after all, what Dutch parliamentarians wear on Prinsjesdag).

ANC MP Jonas Sibanyoni used to wear the traditional attire of his Matabele tribe but found no one took any notice and switched to a well-cut suit. “So I’m looking British this year,” he told the press.

The Houses of Parliament | Die Parlementsgebou
Cape Town — Kaapstad

Part I: The Houses of Parliament, Part II: The Senate, Part III: The House of Assembly, Part IV: The National Assembly, Part V: The State Opening of Parliament

Published at 8:21 pm on Sunday 14 March 2010. Categories: Cape Town Featured South Africa Tags: , , , .
Comments

It’s always good to see the old flag flying; great photo atop.

— JB 23 Apr 2010 2:05 pm
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