Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela, and the beginning of the process that resulted in an inclusive, democratic South Africa.
This evening President Jacob Zuma will account to Parliament in his State of the Nation after 20 years of ANC government.
Since his election in 2009, President’s Zuma’s State of the Nation Addresses (SONA) have been filled with grand ideas that inevitably result in a string of broken promises. We are not expecting anything more substantial this year.
Our hope for this evening is that the President is able to deliver his SONA without disruption. At a time in our country when we are faced with rising unemployment, a skills shortage among the youth, rampant crime and the electricity crisis that is devastating our economy, we need a functioning Parliament more than ever.
The DA will not be party to any attempts by the EFF to disrupt SONA, and condemn the allusions by the Speaker that Public Order Police may be used to uphold order in the house. Parliament must serve the needs of the people. Any distractions or disruptions to this process cannot be tolerated and only serve to undermine the functioning of our democracy.
The President this evening needs to address the issues of jobs and unemployment, crime, education and the electricity crisis.
It is time to take the power away from corrupt government officials who are only working to serve their own needs, and restore it to the people of South Africa.
President Zuma needs to begin by breaking the Eskom monopoly as a matter of urgency, and allowing independent power producers into the market.
Load-shedding is strangling our economy. The private sector is willing and ready to supply to electricity that Eskom is unable to. These will not only alleviate the strain on the grid, but also create thousands of jobs.
The President must also announce plans to can the R1 trillion nuclear deal , and rather invest more funds in renewable energy projects.
On the issues of jobs and unemployment, we would like to see the President announce reforms to the education system that will help to address the skills shortage among the youth. Teachers need to be subjected to competency testing, and we need to ensure that learners are provided with the tools they need to learn. It is unacceptable that schools go without desks and text books while the President spends public funds on unnecessary upgrades to his private residence at Nkandla.
Finally we would like to see firm action on crime and the substance abuse. South Africans do not feel safe in their own communities, and are subjected to crime and violence on a daily basis. This is often fuelled by the hopelessness of unemployment and drug abuse.
We need to make sure that our police services is expanded, better trained and adequately equipped. We also need to reintroduce special units to fight specifics crimes such as gangsterism and drugs. Since these units were disbanded we have seen a major increase in drug related criminality.
South Africa is a land that is caught between despair and hope. Our nation is resilient but requires firm leadership from a government that serves the needs of the people. President Zuma and his cabinet are currently not fulfilling this role.
We look forward to presenting the DA’s alternative state of the nation next week, based on my Power to the People Tour, where I visited communities across our land to establish their concerns.
We will not allow the President to misrepresent the State of our Nation.
– By Opinion: DA
