Sona a missed opportunity – opposition
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has come under attack in Parliament over his State of the Nation Address (Sona) with the opposition saying it was a missed opportunity.
They said the president only spoke about his dreams and not tangible solutions to the financial crisis facing the country.
But ANC ministers came to the defence of Ramaphosa and said he was on the right track and had tabled concrete plans for his administration.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane and EFF leader Julius Malema fired the first salvo yesterday and told Ramaphosa he had failed to provide solutions to an ailing economy, collapsing healthcare system and growing inequality.
Malema also accused Ramaphosa of dumping ANC conference resolutions to expropriate land without compensation and nationalise the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb).
But ACDP leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe said they fully backed Ramaphosa on his stance on the Sarb mandate.
Maimane said major reforms were needed to jack up failing state-owned entities (SOEs). “The last thing we should be doing now is committing ourselves to a decade or more of bailouts for Eskom,” said Maimane.
This followed Ramaphosa’s announcement that Eskom will get a bailout of R230 billion.
SOEs have been receiving bailouts of more than R570bn in the last few years.
Malema said Ramaphosa had abandoned resolutions of the ANC on the Sarb mandate and expropriation of land without compensation.
“We must warn you that if you don’t expropriate land without compensation the democratic project is under threat. Our people are going to engage in an unled revolution.
“We’ll never resolve the social ills in our society if we don’t resolve the land question,” said Malema.
Meshoe said they were disappointed that Ramaphosa had included tainted ministers in his Cabinet.
The ANC has also been accused of appointing people implicated in state capture to chair key portfolio committees in Parliament.
Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu said Maimane cannot claim the president did not have the authority of the state. “Maimane speaks as if we are still in an election. The reason why we have the ANC president delivering the Sona was because the people rejected their manifesto,” said Mthembu.
Minister of Police Bheki Cele warned the country that illegal miners known as zama zamas were costing the country R41bn.
He said last year zama zamas took R41bn out of the country.
Cele also said they will intensify the fight against corruption. They have sent hundreds of dockets to the National Prosecuting Authority on corruption cases they are investigating.