On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his annual State of the Nation Address (Sona), and what many of us want to hear is the results of his many commitments made exactly a year ago.
However, this being an election year, it would be naïve to expect that Ramaphosa will play open cards about his government’s failures or lack of progress in some of the promises he made. If anything, we must anticipate that the president will most likely gloss over those promises that have not been fulfilled.
The biggest of these has to be load shedding, which soon after Ramaphosa announced measures to deal with last year, including by appointing electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, got worse.
Many small businesses have since shut down owing to the adverse effects of , and many people have also lost their jobs. Another Achilles heel for the president is the worsening crime levels in the country despite some efforts to deal with it.
A cursory look at a government website containing Sona speeches and tracking progress made since last year, suggests the government is already patting itself on the back for having allocated funding to fight crime.
This unfortunately has not yet translated into impactful change on the crime levels and lived experiences of many South Africans.
If the ANC’s January 8 statement, which is usually a line of march for government’s priorities of the year ahead, is anything to go by, Ramaphosa is most likely to reflect on his party and government’s successes since 1994. This is not only due to the upcoming elections but also because this year marks 30 years since the dawn of democracy.
Some critics were quick to point out how the ANC’s January 8 statement, for example, was silent on the many failures of the party in the nearly three decades of being in power. The space in this editorial is not enough to list all the promises that are yet to be fulfilled.
What we do hope Ramaphosa will do this week is to acknowledge some of the shortcomings of his government and not downplay them. We also want to hear clear plans to grow the economy, create jobs, fight corruption, improve service delivery in municipalities and end poverty.
This year’s speech should give us hope rather than make new promises.
SOWETAN | Give us hope, not promises, Cyril
Image: Thapelo Morebudi
On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his annual State of the Nation Address (Sona), and what many of us want to hear is the results of his many commitments made exactly a year ago.
However, this being an election year, it would be naïve to expect that Ramaphosa will play open cards about his government’s failures or lack of progress in some of the promises he made. If anything, we must anticipate that the president will most likely gloss over those promises that have not been fulfilled.
The biggest of these has to be load shedding, which soon after Ramaphosa announced measures to deal with last year, including by appointing electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, got worse.
Many small businesses have since shut down owing to the adverse effects of , and many people have also lost their jobs. Another Achilles heel for the president is the worsening crime levels in the country despite some efforts to deal with it.
A cursory look at a government website containing Sona speeches and tracking progress made since last year, suggests the government is already patting itself on the back for having allocated funding to fight crime.
This unfortunately has not yet translated into impactful change on the crime levels and lived experiences of many South Africans.
If the ANC’s January 8 statement, which is usually a line of march for government’s priorities of the year ahead, is anything to go by, Ramaphosa is most likely to reflect on his party and government’s successes since 1994. This is not only due to the upcoming elections but also because this year marks 30 years since the dawn of democracy.
Some critics were quick to point out how the ANC’s January 8 statement, for example, was silent on the many failures of the party in the nearly three decades of being in power. The space in this editorial is not enough to list all the promises that are yet to be fulfilled.
What we do hope Ramaphosa will do this week is to acknowledge some of the shortcomings of his government and not downplay them. We also want to hear clear plans to grow the economy, create jobs, fight corruption, improve service delivery in municipalities and end poverty.
This year’s speech should give us hope rather than make new promises.
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