Cape Town — Opposition parties did not hold back when it came to their assessment of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week, while the ANC backed their achievements of the last 30 years.
This year’s MP Debate took place without the EFF, following the suspension of six members. Many opposition parties gave their viewpoints on some of the key issues currently plaguing in the country, including loadshedding and service delivery. Ramaphosa’s example of democracy’s child – Tintswalo – was also a topic of discussion, IOL reported.
ANC chief whip, Pemmy Majodina, said some people would turn a blind eye to what the ANC has done for South Africa since the dawn of democracy, and said Ramaphosa gave an honest and balanced reflection of the past year.
DA leader, John Steenhuisen, gave a different version of Tintswalo, saying their life story did not end after childhood, and that Ramaphosa betrayed Tintswalo’s South African dream.
PAC leader Mzwanele Nyhontso says he has invited President Cyril Ramaphosa to come and see the condition of the roads in Centani, Eastern Cape. “They are a disaster waiting to happen,” he says.#SONADEBATE #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/zyT9k2lUTf
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) February 13, 2024
“Hearing the president speak about her life without acknowledging that the same people who once gave her permission to dream went on to shatter those dreams, only made Tintswalo more resolute that the time for change has come,” Steenhuisen said.
IFP leader, Velenkosi Hlabisa, said the ANC’s success could not be measured since 1994, as the ANC did not govern alone between 1994 and 2004, saying their governance began to falter thereafter.
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said the legacy of Ramaphosa’s six-year term was a sombre picture of utter decay, while the ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said the reality was that things were worse off for the country compared with 2019.
According to EWN, other opposition parties said Ramaphosa was not walking the anti-corruption talk. This comes after his failure to act on the corruption charges against Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, which was questioned by Democratic Alliance MP, Leon Schreiber.
“He’s sitting right here, so why wasn’t he allowed to speak today? I’ll tell you why… because the ANC is too afraid to put its corruption-accused deputy president on this stage.”
[WATCH] “#Loadsheding is the end of the world for thousands of workers who have been laid off because of it. The only people for whom #loadsheding is not the end of the world are ANC fat cats.” – The DA’s MP Leon Schreiber during the #SONADebate. pic.twitter.com/8NaaiFjCQz
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) February 13, 2024
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: X/@ParliamentofRSA
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Matthew Petersen
