Parliament has dismissed allegations of more stringent security measures that could inhibit the media's ability to effectively perform their roles during the State of the Nation Address on Thursday.
The assurance comes after the increased security measures introduced by Speaker, Baleke Mbete, were roundly criticised by opposition parties and organisations.
But, Parliamentary spokesperson, Manelisi Wolela, said the Secretary to Parliament had given an undertaking that the same provisions of last year would apply in 2017.
He said there will even be additional support to enable the media to comprehensively cover the State Of the Nation Address.
"We wish to state that parliament is doing everything possible to ensure optimal functioning of the media and optimal covering of the State of the Nation Address for the benefit of the people of South Africa and the rest of people in the world. We want to dismiss outright any allegations that parliament plans to restrict media operations and reduce their access to the surroundings," he said.
Manelisi said parliament would also improve the management of the Media Bay by introducing personalised tickets with seat allocations to avoid unauthorized occupation of limited space for about 60 media representatives.
"We have got 740 media workers and we only have 66 spaces available at the press gallery in parliament. We had to sift and select those that can go into the media bay and they were also allocated specific seats so that we avoid a situation where other people that don't belong in the media bay occupy seats," he added.
