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South Africa

Ramaphosa delivers electioneering 'klap' for opposition, talks up SA’s progress with Tintswalos in the House

President Cyril Ramaphosa didn’t announce an election date, but delivered what was in effect a second State of the Nation Address — with a sharp klap for those dismissing his allegory of ‘democracy’s child’ Tintswalo, the beneficiary of democratic gains under 30 years of ANC governance.
Ramaphosa delivers electioneering 'klap' for opposition, talks up SA’s progress with Tintswalos in the House

“[Critics] are prepared to dismiss all of this progress because it does not serve their narrative of a failed nation, it does not serve their political aspirations, it does not serve their narrow interests,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a veiled reference to the DA in particular, and opposition political parties in general, in his reply to an acerbic State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate.

“They do not want a national democratic society. They want to preserve racial privilege and to reverse the fundamental social and economic transformation that is taking place in our country.”

Thursday’s dig at the opposition benches as racist, elitist and naysayers falls in line with the tone the governing ANC set at its January 8 Statement rally. Then Ramaphosa, as party boss, talked of the onslaught by “anti-transformation forces” against the ANC with the aim “to deprive the ANC of the ability to use state power to effect change”.

It’s classic ANC tactics to pull into the laager for a fight against an enemy — and it has helped the governing party to mobilise significant support. It’s a crucial approach ahead of the upcoming elections, in which pundits predict the ANC may lose its outright majority.

The increasing use of such tactics can be expected on the campaign trail as the elections draw closer. The date of the polls is not yet known, but may be announced next Wednesday after a meeting between Ramaphosa, the Electoral Commission of South Africa and premiers. Wednesday is the second-last day that the election date can be announced, after the Presidency said on 7 February it would be announced within 15 days.

Election klap delivered, Ramaphosa, as commander-in-chief, missed a beat to honour the two SANDF soldiers killed and the three others wounded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday. 

We dip our heads for those who are injured and those who may well have fallen,” said the President, going off script as he dismissed criticism of the SANDF deployment, which is part of the Southern African Development Community mission.

Neither did Ramaphosa use his Sona debate reply, which was broadcast live, to pay tribute to the Oryx helicopter pilot, who, despite a shot-off finger, managed to safely land his chopper. The helicopter was on a medical evacuation near Goma in the DRC earlier in February.

Instead, the President seemed regretful about the acerbic Sona debate, which highlighted divisions across the political landscape (read here and here).

Those sharp divisions in the House were also reflected in how South Africa’s past, present and future were viewed. 

We cannot forget the past. Even if we wanted to, the past we have been through as a nation has left deep scars in many of our people, and those scars are not going to be washed away or wished away,” the President said, going off script from his official written speech.

He used his one-hour, 10-minute reply to highlight South Africa’s development and transition under successive ANC governments since 1994, as he had in his 8 February Sona.

“It is not a Ramaphosa legacy; it is an ANC-led government legacy. I never want it said this is a Cyril Ramaphosa legacy; it is our people’s legacy,” Ramaphosa humble-bragged to applause from the ANC benches.

On Thursday, dozens of real-life Tintswalos — Tintswalo was the name Ramaphosa gave to an allegorical “child of democracy” in his Sona — sat in the public gallery. Representing engineers, pilots, police, doctors, naval captains and other professionals, Ramaphosa called them the “young South Africans who are proud to be part of the generation of Tintswalo”.

They were proof, he said, of improvement and fundamental change brought by the ANC, including the 4.7 million houses built, school nutrition, free healthcare and education, and social grants. 

Away from the noise and the spectacle, our country is being steadily and fundamentally transformed for the better. As we gather here, as we debate and differ and prepare for the election campaign trail, a quiet revolution is taking place,” the President said.

That, he said, included more than R1.5-trillion raised in investment pledges, several hundred thousand job opportunities created for young people through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, infrastructure spending to rebuild rural roads and bridges, reestablishing the institutions needed to fight crime and corruption independently, and with integrity, and investment in solar energy, including R70-billion in the Northern Cape, as part of the overall plan to beat rolling blackouts.

He again hinted that the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant may become the “foundation for a more permanent income support for the unemployed”.

Despite the electioneering klap for the opposition, Ramaphosa hammered home cooperation and working together.

“Some here only spoke of the positive. I have taken care to speak of our shortcomings and challenges, but I have also said we must come together.

“We must confront our apartheid past, which remains visible as we travel from suburbs to townships, from rich farmlands to poor villages.”  

On Wednesday, 21 February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has the unenviable task of delivering what could be a harsh reality check when he tables the 2024 Budget in Parliament. DM

Comments (7)

Carsten Rasch Feb 17, 2024, 08:34 AM

Theatrics and playing the race card might make you feel better among the sycophants, Cyril, but respect is a lot harder to earn. You have no reason at all to brag, and that’s the truth, as you’ve achieved very little in your term. Another 5 years of you and the ANC will take us way beyond the brink, past the point of no return.

firstgraham Feb 17, 2024, 08:25 AM

Never before in my life have I heard a speech so devoid of the truth. And then to try and use a harmless, helpless young girl analogy to bring substance to your lies is almost human abuse. CR you can't even count ships, as Durbanites we can't remember the last time there were only 15 ships standing outside Durban harbor. The pain and suffering you and your gangsters have brought to the young generation of this great country is and will be felt for many generations to come. The scars of apartheid have been replaced by the scars of an oligarch class of self-enriching communist ideologists who care nothing for the Tintswalos of this country. And even less for the white South Africans who weren't mentioned once in your pathetic speech. Cry the beloved country.

Fanie Rajesh Ngabiso Feb 16, 2024, 11:09 PM

“They do not want a national democratic society. They want to preserve racial privilege and to reverse the fundamental social and economic transformation that is taking place in our country.” Mr Ramaphosa, it saddens me, and diminishes greatly your stature as a person in my eyes, that you can lie outright as you do above solely in your own interest and without any care for the wellbeing of us, your people. You know as well as we do here how bad the ANC is, and yet you continue with these lies to lead us, your people, down into your dark ANC tunnel of destruction. I don't understand how. I just don't understand.

Xqud@outlook.com Feb 16, 2024, 07:51 PM

Another repulsive display of gaslighting from Cyril. How anyone could vote for the ANC is entirely beyond me. Shameless, delusional, predatory and incompetent. In any other country, with their useless track record, they’d be voted out in an instant, but in the reality distortion field that is SA politics, the masses have returned them to power over and over again. Is it sinking yet I wonder?

louise.roderick Feb 16, 2024, 06:51 PM

Probably the totally wrong forum but could someone explain how Cyril got to be so wealthy while so many of his comrades were battling to survive in prison. And, if my memory serves me correctly way back then people were saying that Mandela was "grooming" Cyril to take over from him. Why did that not happen? Is it because Mandela actually saw what type of person Cyril was/is? And just my observation. Much has been said about apartheid oppression and how badly people of colour were treated - yes, that is fact but...how many members if the population of SA actually realise how badly they are oppressed today, right now, by the very people they believed were the liberators? Forget dignity and so on, the fact that so many people are reliant on grants to survive means that they have no dignity and are completely oppressed by the government threatening this meager form of support if they do not support the ANC. The R350 grant that Cyril touts as a lifesaver is just another way in which people are stripped of their dignity and their reliance on that grant is another way in which the ANC is oppressing the poor majority. The high rate of unemployment that means that young (and old) are unable to achieve dignity by working and providing for their families. Yet another form of oppression. The fact that Cyril uses one of the most condescending expressions "our people" to my mind lumps these people in a category along with domesticated animals. My dog, my cat, my cattle, my pigs. They are systematically being reduced to mere voting fodder. Oppression perhaps? Who in this country is really free,unless you are one of the elite? And far from all whites being beneficiaries of the apartheid regime, there are many of us who grew up not so privileged, who were unable to attend the better schools, who could not afford tertiary education and who had to find jobs as soon as they kept school to assist in keeping the households together. Life may not have been as bad for us as it was for our black compatriots but it certainly wasn't the bed of roses politicians would have you believe it was. I am tired of lies and obfuscation. I am tired of the continual racism in the ANC. I am tired of apartheid being rammed down my throat. I am tired of getting poorer and poorer every day because of spiraling costs and myriad taxes. I am tired of locking myself away every night in case I get attacked. It is way past time for a change to a rational government. No one should forget SA's past but for Pete's sake let's acknowledge it, learn from it and focus on creating a unified future for all. Us time for a change

Jonathan Diederiks Feb 16, 2024, 03:44 PM

Just because the ANC and CR have become so adept at ignoring reality...doesn't make it any less true! over 7700 murders in the last 3 months alone, but the Gvt will ignore all these signs of the times, and cooo softly to each other in their little Tintswalo bubble.

goodallr41 Feb 16, 2024, 03:40 PM

It is obvious that if the potentially rich South Africa is to progress, the corrupt, greedy and incompetent ANC must be voted out.