Cape Town - Opposition parties say they don’t want to hear President Cyril Ramaphosa drone on about the “same old story” and “cut and paste rhetoric” at his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday evening.
Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Groenewald said Ramaphosa will need to deliver a strong speech that not only identifies the problems, but gives tangible solutions to them.
“I think the president is going to tell us the same old story – giving us no solutions. The people of South Africa want to hear of practical solutions.
“We’re going to hear of the Eskom crisis. I don’t think the president is going to say anything there. In short, I want to hear him putting the interests of South Africa first, and not the interests of the ANC.”
He called on Ramaphosa to show the door to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, Police Minister Bheki Cele, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and politicians who were implicated in corruption scandals.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said his party expected “nothing except cut and paste rhetoric and empty promises” from Ramaphosa’s Sona.
Institute of Race Relations campaigns head Gabriel Crouse said the true state of the nation could be gleaned from the fact that the country slipped into a negative phase in the business cycle from December 2013, where it’s still lingering, “making this the longest downturn since records began”.
“However, President Ramaphosa is unlikely to mention this in his Sona speech,” Crouse said.
“South Africa’s negative business phase, as (the South African Reserve Bank) calculates it, is in its 110th month. The previous longest downward phase was 55 months, from 1989 to 1993.”
Iranti, an LGBQTI+ advocacy organisation, said it wanted Ramaphosa to acknowledge and address the LGBTQI+ community in his Sona.
Iranti spokesperson Nolwazi Tusini said the group had appealed to Ramaphosa to address issues facing the LGBTQI+ community at a previous Sona, “but he failed to do so”.
Labelling Ramaphosa a “constitutional delinquent” as he addressed an EFF event, red berets leader Julius Malema on Sunday vowed to stop Ramaphosa from delivering his speech.
However, ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina told reporters on Monday that Ramaphosa would be able to deliver his address.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za