Mr President, the time for empty words is over, it’s time to deliver

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s sixth State Of the Nation Address has the opposition DA in raptures, the EFF questioning his dress style, especially his “cheap” suit, and other parties wondering if he just sold the country the same old retreaded promises.

Some analysts are concerned that Ramaphosa is creating a shadow administration within the presidency because his Cabinet is either too fractured – or too incompetent – to see his reforms through.

There’s a bit of truth in every response.

We have heard a lot of the same before, but it is important for the president of the country to acknowledge his own administration and his own party’s role in the current state of our nation.

In fact, it’s beyond important, it’s almost unprecedented.

But, at the same time, it’s just as vital to note that Ramaphosa has spent the past two years making an art form of addressing the nation – especially on platforms where there aren’t any questions afterwards – and coming across as reassuring and reasonable.

There will be much poring over the entrails of his speech. It was slightly longer than previous ones, with some clever headline-grabbing initiatives, like the hemp industry, but the proof of the pudding, as always, will be in the eating.

The president is fast running out of runway to start delivering. Jobs have to be created, services have to be delivered, arrests have to be made for last year’s abortive insurrection to say nothing of the acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s state capture findings, spectrum has to be released, the railways have to be fixed. And the list goes on.

It’s a herculean task by any standard, but especially in our country where unemployment is as high as it is and the factionalism in the ruling party increasingly spills over into public life.

Let’s hope these aren’t just empty words.