Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

Politics

Politics, South Africa, Maverick News

With an eye on the polls, Ramaphosa talks up government achievements and makes an array of promises

With an eye on the polls, Ramaphosa talks up government achievements and makes an array of promises
Marianne Merten
By Marianne Merten
8 Feb 2024
Facebook
12
The worst of the rolling blackouts were behind South Africa following regulatory reforms, and more would be done to tackle unemployment, crime and State Capture, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his State of the Nation Address, which was more like an election speech.

Like never before, President Cyril Ramaphosa switched languages in the State of the Nation Address (Sona) to speak to voters in their language during the live broadcast on Thursday evening.

That tactic and the telling of the story of the governing ANC’s successes since the 1994 democratic transition through democracy’s child, Tintswalo, were front and centre of the Sona in a speech that ran to 6,769 words.

Recalling Nelson Mandela’s 1994 vote in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, Ramaphosa touched on 30 years of democracy, the Constitution and societal aspiration.

“It is this dream, of a free and united people, that is woven into our democratic Constitution. 

“It is this Constitution that has guided our collective efforts over the last three decades to fundamentally change our country for the better, and it must stand at the centre of the work we do now to build a better life for all.” 

The benefits for Tintswalo include free healthcare, no-fee schools with feeding schemes that ensure nutrition for nine million learners, social grants paid monthly to 26 million South Africans, free tertiary education, employment equity and black economic empowerment.

Ramaphosa announced the extension of the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant that dates back to the Covid-19 lockdown, but did not give a date. The grant had already been extended to March 2025.

“We have seen the benefits of this grant and will extend it and improve it as the next step towards income support for the unemployed,” Ramaphosa said. “They are an investment in the future.”

National Health Insurance


Signalling his intention to implement the National Health Insurance — organised business and others recently asked that the controversial Bill be referred back to Parliament — Ramaphosa said his administration would “incrementally implement the NHI” to deal with financing and more.

“I am going through the Bill,” said Ramaphosa, going off script to enthusiastic support from the ANC benches. “I am looking for a pen.”

This was his cue to tack into his five-year administration and the challenges it faced, from Covid-19 to increased oil and gas prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The last five years has been a time of recovery, rebuilding and renewal. We have had to revitalise our economy after more than a decade of poor economic performance. We have had to rebuild our public institutions after the era of State Capture.”

Read more in Daily Maverick: President Ramaphosa’s 2024 State of the Nation Address

According to Ramaphosa, that’s exactly what his administration has done. Hospitals are being built and houses provided for the poor. Life expectations have rapidly increased and the number of those who know their HIV status has increased while new infections decline. The Presidential Employment Stimulus and Youth Employment Programme have created more than 1.7 million work and livelihood opportunities and put more than one million assistants into classrooms.

“We have laid a foundation for growth through far-reaching economic reforms, an ambitious investment drive and an infrastructure programme that is starting to yield results.

“Companies continue to invest, thousands of hectares of farmland are being planted, new factories are being opened and production is being expanded.”

Electioneering


The opposition benches heckled and the ANC applauded the electioneering Sona, in what signalled divisions ahead of the upcoming elections.

The decision to deliver a Sona account of achievements not only in the past five years but going back to 1994 comes against the back of polls showing the ANC losing its majority in the elections.

Just days before Sona, a baseline survey by Wits University Professor of Urban Governance David Everatt put the ANC at 42% of the vote, the DA at 19% and the EFF at 16%. An Ipsos poll this week put the ANC at 38.5%, the EFF at 18.6% and the DA at 17.3%.

However, since its January 8 Statement, the ANC has maintained it will secure an “overwhelming victory” and a “decisive victory” at the hustings.  

Styling his administration as one of rebuilding, revitalising and renewal, Ramaphosa did not gloss over challenges, but contextualised them as work in progress.

Many of the stats presented during Thursday’s Sona came from the five-year review the Presidency released earlier in the week.

As with unemployment, Ramaphosa said, steps were being taken to rebuild institutions while ending corruption. Some 200 people were being prosecuted for State Capture and R14-billion in forfeiture orders had been effected.

Electricity


On the electricity front, regulatory reform would continue and 14,000km of new transmission lines built. Elsewhere, plans were under way to resolve the freight and rail logistics crisis.

“In the past year, we have come together with social partners to end load shedding, address the challenges in the logistics sector, tackle crime and corruption, and accelerate job creation.  

“This is the South African way of building a social compact working together on tangible issues, and it will be the key to building a new society in the years to come,” Ramaphosa said.

“We have made significant progress on measures to grow the economy, create jobs and reduce poverty. While we have set in motion the process of renewal and reform, there is more work to be done to see these reforms through to the end. We will see through the work under way with our partners to end load shedding and revive the performance of our ports and rail network.”

Absent EFF


For the first time since 2015, a Sona unfolded without disruption. No small part of that was due to the absence of the EFF, which stayed away after EFF leader Julius Malema, his deputy Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Marshall Dlamini and three others on Thursday morning lost their court bid to reverse their month-long suspension without salary. Following the court decision, the other 38 EFF MPs decided not to attend the Sona.

That snub was not unexpected, and on Saturday the EFF will launch its election manifesto at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Ramaphosa’s focus on South Africa’s 30 years of democracy was anticipated.

He called for South Africans to stand together against attempts to undermine the progressive realisation of everyone’s rights and against those who foment violence to divide South Africa and undermine democracy.

“As we move forward, let us remember that it is up to us — not anyone else — to determine the future of South Africa. We are not passive observers of our history. We are its authors. We are the builders of this country we call home.”

In ending the Sona of one hour and 40 minutes, Ramaphosa returned to Mandela.

“Like Madiba, we must keep moving, always forward, always onwards, towards the country of our dreams. Always believing that victory is certain,” said Ramaphosa. DM

Categories:

Tags: