Members of civil society organisations, gathered outside St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, say the real state of the nation is one of failure at all levels. Activists have highlighted youth unemployment, violent crime and poor service delivery as the ongoing challenges facing communities.
The protest preceded President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday. Hosting what they call, the People’s SONA, with sentiments that South Africans are suffering under among others, corruption, joblessness, crime and poverty.
The group has dismissed the SONA as a narrative to control what they say, are multitudes of crises facing the country.
“Because it’s an election year, he’s going to go on and on about how they’ve done so well in their term but if you are a person on the ground that has to survive on R350, the story is quite different, the value of that R350 has depreciated. In the shops when you are buying food, it’s just out of reach for people, access to even that same SRD grant, millions of people are excluded,” says Lindi Mkhumbane of Cry of the xcluded.
“South Africa is incredibly unsafe, and it has been for a long time. Our women are experiencing incredible violence today. Gender based violence is at an unprecedented level just here like nowhere else in the world,” says Joel Stevens of Cape Youth Collective.
“We as young people, we don’t have jobs, we are sitting at home doing nothing. Children are getting into gangsterism, people want jobs, better houses, food for people, food is getting expensive,” says Mishka Samuels, also of Cry of the xcluded.
The group says South Africa needs a strong civil society in order to find solutions for the future.
