Parliament says it’s all systems go for Thursday’s State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete, deputies and house chairpersons conducted an inspection and assessed the state of readiness on Wednesday afternoon.

Mbete says parliamentary staff are just busy with final touches.

Florists and sound engineers are hard at work at Parliament, making sure the precinct is well decorated and the equipment is in order.

Staff members are busy with administration and security, while police officers and soldiers are also on the premises.

Errol Bizarre has been rolling out the red carpet for almost 35 years and says most of his work is done.

He will, however, be back at 4 am on Thursday: “Just to see if the carpet will be in place, roll it out and we start doing the finishing touches.”

Josie Van Aswegen, from florist Bloomable, has been decorating for the opening of Parliament for at least two years and says they have been setting up since Sunday.

She said: “We’ve done a lot of the areas and used a mixture of flowers. They wanted things to be colourful.”