As the nation awaits President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), State of the Nation Address, the majority of political parties in Parliament are calling on the President to give concrete, implementable plans that will deal with the challenges facing the country.
They say President Ramaphosa must address high unemployment levels, maladministration at State-Owned Enterprises as well as their continuous drainage on the national fiscus.
The graphic below shows unemployment statistics in 2019:
‘Nation-building’
The African National Congress (ANC) expects the President’s message to be about nation-building.
“We must build from what Mandela taught us so yes we expect him to talk about nation-building,” says ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina.
‘Challenges facing SA’
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says the SONA will be sugar-coated and not give a true reflection of the challenges facing the country.
Party leader John Steenhuissen says the President must take South Africans to his confidence and be realistic about the challenges facing the country.
“It’s going to be an hour of downplaying the bat, inventing the good of cherry-picking stats to show if somehow turned the corner as well as his whimsical dreams of South Africa he knows in his head he cannot deliver.”
In the video below, Political Analyst Dr Sithembile Mbete and Senior Lecturer at University of Johannesburg Professor Peter Baur talk about some of the issues expected to be covered by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he delivers SONA:
‘Sell off SAA’
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is calling for practical implementable plans to deal with the socio-economic challenges facing the country.
“We are really calling on the President to lay out a roadmap which will lead to the selling off of SAA to ensure that we prevent further losses to the fiscus and prevent further bailouts,” says National Spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa.
Congress of the People (COPE) says it expects nothing from Ramaphosa’s SONA, but a speech full of empty promises.
“Over the past two years President Ramaphosa was only making empty promises all the time. But we really want him to answer very crucial matters that are hampering the country, we are sitting with an economic crisis in the country, unemployment is rising by the day.”
APLA members in jail
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania says Ramaphosa must put clear timeframes on land matters and also make an announcement about APLA (Azanian People’s Liberation Army) members who are languishing in jail.
“We expect him to tell us about the land redistribution, how is it going to happen, because we suspect that they are running out of time, we also expect him to say something about APLA cadres who are languishing in jails,” says PAC leader Mzwanele Nyhontso.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the SONA on Thursday, 7 PM.
Road closures
The City of Cape Town’s Traffic Services says several roads will be closed ahead of and during the State of the Nation Address on Thursday. A spokesperson for Cape Town Traffic Services Richard Coleman lists some of the road closures.
“We’ve got a number of road closures in and around Parliament which will be Wale Street, Bureau Street, Spin Street and Parliament Street, Plain Street, St Johns Road, Mostert Street and Roland Street which will be closed from 06;00 until 24 h on Thursday. Then in Newlands areas, we’ve got the M3 Union Avenue Rhodes Drive and Philip Kgosana which will be closed from 17:45 and 19:.30.
