President Jacob Zuma‚ saying that economic pressure means wastage must be cut‚ told MPs on Thursday night that they should consider choosing between Pretoria or Cape Town as a capital city.

“The biggest expenditure that we would like parliament to consider is the maintenance of two capitals‚” he said during his State of the Nation address.

“The cost is too high for the executive. This is an urgent matter‚” he said‚ adding that politicians had to maintain homes in two cities.

On Twitter‚ this was immediately seen as Parliament being moved away from the opposition DA-controlled city of Cape Town.

Zuma also told MPs that overseas trips would be strictly vetted and the size of delegations would be reduced.

The budget vote dinners for parliament stakeholders would no longer take place‚ he added.

“We have to turn the economy around and we must cut wastage. Once the economy recovers we’ll proud of ourselves‚” he said.