The debate on the State of the Nation Address (Sona) continued on Wednesday with the opposition parties criticising the ANC-led government’s achievements.
Speaking during the electioneering-fired debate on Wednesday, ANC MP and NCOP chief whip Seiso Mohai said the debate demonstrated what President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted that the progress South Africans have made over the last 30 years of democracy could not be denied nor diminish the challenges being faced.
Mohai said the second phase of democratic transition has the primary task of significantly accelerating the fundamental task of attaining economic transformation.
“Transforming South Africa's economy is a process that requires the state to mobilise its capabilities and all social partners to make a collective contribution. 30 years into our democratic breakthrough, we continue to have high levels of inequality, which exacerbate poverty and unemployment,” he said.
Mohai also said the ANC was never naive that the transformation of South Africa’s unequal economic relations would be smooth and straightforward.
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.
“Let me tell you about a town in this province that has been captured, a town called Knysna, which is run by a coalition of the ANC, EFF and Patriotic Alliance,” he said.
“Today that town has no water supply, functional refuse removal or sewage systems.”
“This is a warning for after the 2024 general elections. That coalition has captured everyone in that town. Mr President, I dare you to help us put that municipality under administration because that is what needs to happen,” he said.
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.
“If you are so committed to changing the lives of ordinary people, why are you not selecting poor students from the Western Cape to go study medicine in Cuba? You are the only province that does not do that,” he added.
NFP MP Munzoor Shaik Emam said he heard the DA talk about how well things were in Western Cape.
“There are no poor whites in the Western Cape according to the latest surveys. Almost 40% of blacks and coloureds are poor,” Shaik Emam said.
Ramaphosa will reply to the debate on Thursday afternoon.
Cape Times