Pretoria - South Africans are tired of “empty promises”, Mr President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This is the rallying call by civil society and political parties before Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) during a parliamentary sitting at the City Hall in Cape Town this evening.
Scores of parties are expected to stage protest marches calling for an end to load shedding and the implementation of a basic income grant.
The EFF and NFP, meanwhile, have vowed to disrupt the proceedings despite a warning by law-enforcement agencies.
The SACP, led by its general secretary Solly Mapaila, will march to ask for an inquest into the murder of its former leader, Chris Hani, on April 10, 1993.
Also expected at Parliament will be parents whose children died at the Enyobeni Tavern in East London in June last year. The aggrieved parents will be led by the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in SA and civil society movement Alliance Partners.
The DA, ActionSA and other political parties have already expressed their lack of hope in what the president is likely to deliver in his address.
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage said Ramaphosa would address a nation demoralised by load shedding, frightening levels of unemployment, poverty and crime, the collapse of water and sewerage infrastructure and rail systems, and by politicians who focused on infighting and personal power to the exclusion of delivering services.
“Now that Cyril Ramaphosa has cemented his role as the ruling party president for another five-year term, the time is overdue for the nation to see the results of the previous promises rather than adding to the list with more empty promises,” he said.
“We need believable implementation of the many plans that are promised. We need impact.”
Outa expects Ramaphosa to deal with the Eskom crisis, including a funded plan to end load shedding, a clear direction on resolving Eskom’s debt burden and the advancement of Eskom’s unbundling. It also expects significant support to strengthen the criminal justice system and institutions hollowed out by state capture, and action to implement the recommendations of the State Capture Commission to combat corruption and organised crime syndicates.
Duvenage said they also expected a reshuffled Cabinet, with the removal of obstructionist incompetence and the appointment of competent leaders who place South Africa’s interests before their own, and an enhanced protection and support for whistle-blowers.
Ramaphosa must also have a plan for focused and realistic help for businesses and individuals left floundering by the stagnant economy and the collapse of Eskom and state services.
He said last year Ramaphosa spoke of South Africa being at a turning point and a need for a new consensus to drive collective effort by South Africans to address poverty, unemployment and inequality, but that was not followed up with meaningful engagement with citizens and civil society organisations.
“Despite our electricity constraints, the president has promised in all his past addresses a revival of economic growth and job creation. Yet little has really transpired.
“We need to see action and the elimination of construction mafias and the rampant organised crime in government procurement,” Duvenage said.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald, who said South Africa had heard enough empty promises and Ramaphosa could not simply repeat the same plans and promises he made in previous Sonas. “These empty promises by ANC heads of state have formed a pattern where the same plans are rehashed, or tweaked a little, every year to try to fool the public. An example is the 2022 promise that more will be done to create a favourable environment for the private sector in order to stimulate economic growth,” Groenewald said.
He said the president must be very honest about the ongoing power crisis and put forward the government’s plans to address it in great detail.
The Public Servants Association also urged Ramaphosa to act on his promises.
Pretoria News