The African National Congress (ANC) waits with great expectation the delivery of the 2016 State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President Jacob Zuma on Thursday, 11 February 2016.
SONA must be about changing the lives of our people for better. Guided by the National Development Plan, South Africans must assess the progress we have made and together continue to reimagine the future we want to build.
We have no doubt that SONA 2016 will fulfil exactly this objective. We trust that President Jacob Zuma will use this occasion of SONA to critically and holistically assess the many success of the ANC government which have included amongst them:
• Giving land back to our people through, amongst others, the provision of decent housing – ensuring that South Africans have a growing asset and are able to leave a lasting legacy for their children
• Creating a more empowered citizenry, with more than 500 hundred thousand matriculants coming through the school year in 2015 and more than 1 million graduates having been produced by the ANC government since 1994
• Alleviating poverty and committed to doing even more with the introduction of the National Minimum Wage to complement our already existing programmes that provide a much needed social security net to millions of South Africans
• Increasing life expectancy due to, amongst others, our determined fight against the HIV/Aids pandemic which has seen the rollout of the world’s largest and most comprehensive antiretroviral programme
• Transforming South Africa into a huge construction site through our massive infrastructure build programme, which has led to millions of South Africans benefiting from new roads, dams, schools and hospitals
We have regained and retained our dignity as a people – these advances of our revolution that cannot be reversed.
Crime and corruption remain unacceptably high and the ANC is confident that the President will give considered thought to how we push back these societal scourges. The current economic context demands that the ANC government continues to provide bold and transformation leadership in the face of a depressed global climate, domestic economic slowdown and weaker social cohesion.
The people of South Africa are tired of the ongoing degeneration and disrespect for the institutions of our democracy. Their primary preoccupation, which must be that of all public representatives deployed by the ANC, is greater, faster and better change in their daily lives.
With the local government elections on the horizon, critical questions will have to be posed on how this important tool of development is being used to effect social change.
While we laud the fruits being borne by the Back to Basics programme including the increased number of unqualified reports and the increased number of clean audits; government must be uncompromising on the need to put our people at the centre of their development; truly advancing people’s power.
As the President leads us in these deliberations this coming Thurdsday, South Africans must be cognisant of and celebrate the changes that have swept throughout the length and breadth of our country since 1994.
We have regained and retained our dignity as a people – these advances of our revolution that cannot be reversed.
Our youthful population remains our biggest asset and we are confident that the President will speak to their hopes and dreams and a government committed to working with them to deliver on them. A government committed to the creation of a better life for all.
– By Zizi Kodwa
