By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The debate on the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) continued on Wednesday with the squabbles among political parties on the second and last day of the debate.
Ramaphosa regaled South Africans with the tale of Tintswalo, a woman born at the dawn of democracy whose life had changed for the better because of the ANC-led government’s successes. While the story aimed to inspire, Ramaphosa has come under fire from South Africans for being out of touch with the realities.
Democratic Alliance DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said Ramaphosa’s attempt to sanitise the lived reality of South Africans fell flat last Thursday.
“His revisionist and dishonest fairytale is an insult to those who know the truth … His fictional character, Tintswalo – a child born with our democracy – is the exception and not the rule,” Gwarube said.
“What is clear from the president’s reluctance to recount key tangible deliverables of the past term in office is that these are few and far between. He decided to do some fancy footwork on Thursday by focusing on the past 30 years of democracy and not the past 5 years of his presidency,” she said.
“He too is ashamed of his record in government. He too knows that South Africans are worse off today than they were in 2019 at the beginning of this administration,”Gwarube said.
Trade and Industry Minister Ibrahim Patel said despite of considerable shocks and challenges to the economy, South Africa made progress in a number of areas.
“While some in the opposition want to cling onto wealth gained during apartheid, we recognise that more fundamental change requires further structural shifts in the economy,” he said.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde told of a tale of two parties – the ANC as a party of failure and the DA as an organisation that got things done.
Winde, who listed some successes of his provincial government, said Ramaphosa had spoken last week as if corruption was a thing of the past and that state capture did not happen under his watch.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said Winde should be ashamed because the DA was telling a false narrative.
“All the things you claim to have done have been made possible by the advances made by the ANC. Where you fail, you blame the ANC,” Nzimande said.
National Freedom Party member of parliament Shaik Emam has, meanwhile, warned the DA in the Western Cape not to allow its support for Israel to hamper the autonomy of the province.
Emam gave a stern warning that the province will be a bloodbath should the DA involve outsiders in governing the province.
“But let me give a loud and clear message to the Democratic Alliance. If you think that the people of South Africa are going to allow you and take this beautiful country and the city of Cape Town of ours and hand it over to the Zionist, the City of Cape Town will be a bloodbath. I can assure you we will not allow you to take this and sell it, and sell your principles, ethics and values like you have just stolen the land in the Western Cape to the United States and others. We will not allow you to make it the Jewish state.”
Ramaphosa is expected to reply to the debate on his SONA on Thursday at 14.00.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.