Zuma will join about 650 diplomats, business people, trade unionists, traditional and religious leaders and other personalities when Mbeki reviews  progress and states his vision for the  year ahead.

Asked why the  sacked deputy president Zuma was being treated as a special guest when he was just a rank-and-file African National Congress (ANC) member, Mbete said Parliament's decision-making was not governed by other institutions or what is happening out there.

Zuma, as a former deputy president, was invited just as  former deputy president FW de Klerk was, she said. Other key dignitaries include former president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

But Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said  treating Zuma as an honoured guest was a further indication of the tolerance shown by the ANC towards corruption.

Mbete also said she and National Council of Provinces chairman Mninwa Mahlangu  had this year chosen the theme, All shall have equal rights.