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NGOs, political parties slam Ramaphosa's SoNA's 'empty promises'
Political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2024 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), saying it is fraught with big promises that show no sign of learning from past mistakes or changing course.
Ramaphosa delivered his eighth SoNA on Thursday evening at the Cape Town City Hall.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa had not kept any of his promises made in his previous SoNAs and that he had not tabled any pragmatic, workable legislation to realise his 'New Dawn'.
Steenhuisen stated that the South African economy had all but flatlined, with no new jobs, worsened corruption and crime, and millions of starving children.
He noted that 30 years of African National Congress (ANC) national government had caused the country's economy to stagnate and had led to significant fiscal restraint - "an environment in which the ANC is now pursuing desperate and populist measures such as tapping into the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account of the Reserve Bank, essentially killing any economic buffer for the country against unforeseen external market shocks," he stated.
Steenhuisen said a looming tax hike under the ANC would be the final nail in the coffin for millions of South African households struggling to put food on the table.
He said South Africa needed a complete reprioritisation of its national Budget that cut away Cabinet perks and a bloated public wage bill, and that redirected money towards paying better social grants that met the food poverty line, fixed the electricity crisis by embracing privatisation, invested in education, and embraced policies that liberated the economy to fast-track growth and job creation.
NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE
In his speech, Ramaphosa noted that government was planning to incrementally implement the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI), the Bill for which awaits his signature.
The DA said that by embracing the NHI Bill, Ramaphosa was taking a wrecking ball to the country's public health system, driving skilled doctors and medical personnel from the country, and killing South Africa's status as a world leader in healthcare innovation.
He said the NHI could be pushed through Parliament when government could afford to employ and place the country's existing graduate doctors.
"Furthermore, we cannot embrace NHI when the ANC cannot even feed our children. According to the Eastern Cape Department of Health, 1 722 children under the age of five in the province were newly diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition between August 2022 and September 2023. Of these, 114 have died," said Steenhuisen.
Civil rights interest group AfriForum highlighted that Ramaphosa's "search for a pen" to sign the impugned NHI Bill was a shameful attempt to use the false promise of better health care to win a few votes.
Solidarity said it considered the promise of "free healthcare" to be another empty promise but one with very serious consequences.
"It is clear that the government, regardless of their hopeless track record, is appropriating even more power for itself. This is taking place while South Africans actually need the federal devolution of power to communities," it said.
STATE CAPTURE, CORRUPTION AND CRIME
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said the SoNA was a "political sleight of hand", where Ramaphosa appropriated the progress of the ruling party made under Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki while distancing himself from its failures and corruption during President Jacob Zuma's State Capture era.
He said South Africans struggling with unemployment, rampant crime, and continuous rolling blackouts "know the truth that belies this rhetoric".
"The reality outside the Ramaverse is that the President's superficial, low-impact interventions have done little to demonstrate real accountability for corruption, address rolling blackouts, improve educational outcomes, or grow our job-killing economy," said Mashaba.
He ...
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By PolityPolitical parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2024 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), saying it is fraught with big promises that show no sign of learning from past mistakes or changing course.
Ramaphosa delivered his eighth SoNA on Thursday evening at the Cape Town City Hall.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa had not kept any of his promises made in his previous SoNAs and that he had not tabled any pragmatic, workable legislation to realise his 'New Dawn'.
Steenhuisen stated that the South African economy had all but flatlined, with no new jobs, worsened corruption and crime, and millions of starving children.
He noted that 30 years of African National Congress (ANC) national government had caused the country's economy to stagnate and had led to significant fiscal restraint - "an environment in which the ANC is now pursuing desperate and populist measures such as tapping into the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account of the Reserve Bank, essentially killing any economic buffer for the country against unforeseen external market shocks," he stated.
Steenhuisen said a looming tax hike under the ANC would be the final nail in the coffin for millions of South African households struggling to put food on the table.
He said South Africa needed a complete reprioritisation of its national Budget that cut away Cabinet perks and a bloated public wage bill, and that redirected money towards paying better social grants that met the food poverty line, fixed the electricity crisis by embracing privatisation, invested in education, and embraced policies that liberated the economy to fast-track growth and job creation.
NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE
In his speech, Ramaphosa noted that government was planning to incrementally implement the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI), the Bill for which awaits his signature.
The DA said that by embracing the NHI Bill, Ramaphosa was taking a wrecking ball to the country's public health system, driving skilled doctors and medical personnel from the country, and killing South Africa's status as a world leader in healthcare innovation.
He said the NHI could be pushed through Parliament when government could afford to employ and place the country's existing graduate doctors.
"Furthermore, we cannot embrace NHI when the ANC cannot even feed our children. According to the Eastern Cape Department of Health, 1 722 children under the age of five in the province were newly diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition between August 2022 and September 2023. Of these, 114 have died," said Steenhuisen.
Civil rights interest group AfriForum highlighted that Ramaphosa's "search for a pen" to sign the impugned NHI Bill was a shameful attempt to use the false promise of better health care to win a few votes.
Solidarity said it considered the promise of "free healthcare" to be another empty promise but one with very serious consequences.
"It is clear that the government, regardless of their hopeless track record, is appropriating even more power for itself. This is taking place while South Africans actually need the federal devolution of power to communities," it said.
STATE CAPTURE, CORRUPTION AND CRIME
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said the SoNA was a "political sleight of hand", where Ramaphosa appropriated the progress of the ruling party made under Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki while distancing himself from its failures and corruption during President Jacob Zuma's State Capture era.
He said South Africans struggling with unemployment, rampant crime, and continuous rolling blackouts "know the truth that belies this rhetoric".
"The reality outside the Ramaverse is that the President's superficial, low-impact interventions have done little to demonstrate real accountability for corruption, address rolling blackouts, improve educational outcomes, or grow our job-killing economy," said Mashaba.
He ...