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By ILYAAS BASSARDIEN
MEMBERS of Parliament did not mince their words as they critiqued President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2025 State of the Nation Address.
While coming from a range of different political parties, there were two common themes in their reaction.
One, the President is generally saying the same things year after year.
And two, he had missed several key issues that should have been mentioned.
As per expectations, the annual Address was filled with promises for the future as well as some updates regarding the running of the country.
Speech highlights
Ramaphosa outlined the new Medium Term Development Plan that aims to focus on three main goals:
- creating inclusive economic growth and job creation,
- reducing poverty and the high cost of living,
- constructing a capable, developmental State.
Ramaphosa also highlighted the importance of improving the nation’s infrastructure, adding that Government will invest R940 billion over three years for maintaining and building roads, ports, bridges and energy and water systems. The private sector will also invest R100 billion to build a partnership with Government to deliver on critical infrastructure. There are also several projects underway to ensure that the citizens’ access to clean water is also improved.
The President also made sure to mention the improvement in the electricity supply, mentioning that there were more than 300 days without load shedding. This cycle was, of course, interrupted over the past weekend with stage three loadshedding causing disruption. Ramaphosa pointed out that there were continued efforts to allow the private sector to invest in the energy sector, particularly to ensure the country’s transition to renewable energy.
His speech also briefly touched on crime and the Government’s efforts to combat it. He announced that there would be a National Council on Gender Based Violence (GBV) to address the scourge of violence against women and children. And he pointed out that 44 out 52 districts in South Africa have at least one shelter for GBV victims. The police will also introduce Artificial Intelligence and increase the detective by 4 000 additional members to combat crime.
There are still improvements that need to be made in terms of fixing State-Owned Enterprises (SOE), admitted Ramaphosa. To address this, a new dedicated SOE unit will be established to stop the rot at these institutions. The private sector will also be involved in helping Government with ensuring that SOEs run better.
Another area of delivery pointed out by the country’s Presidents was the various financial assistance programmes provided by Government. Around 28 million citizens rely on social grants, especially the Social Relief of Distress Grant.
On student funding, he said there were currently 900 000 students funded by NSFAS, with plans to take on more students from the missing middle.
In closing, the President touched on foreign relations. He reiterated Government’s solidarity with Palestine and commitment to the Genocide case against Zionist Israel. Paying tribute to the South African soldiers who died in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he maintained that South Africa’s presence in the region will eventually bring peace to that country.
Reactions from MPs
Immediately after Ramaphosa’s speech, Members of Parliament (MPs) spoke to the press outside the Cape Town City Hall, where the SONA 2025 was delivered.
The National Coloured Congress’ leader, Fadiel Adams, lamented that the speech was a waste of money and time.
‘R14 million was spent tonight. Ramaphosa could have saved us R14 million and replayed last year’s speech. It was a copy and paste job. It was that terrible. You know, the President has given us a shopping list. Christmas list, if you will. He said, I’d like this, that, that, that, that, and that. But we know the country doesn’t have the money.
‘It was very, very disappointing. It was sucked out of his thumb. The figures don’t make sense. The things he said, the extra policemen he’s promising us, it’s not going to change anything if the President hasn’t a spine.
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‘Why doesn’t he deal with a rotting crime intelligence? And automatically policing in this country becomes more efficient. He won’t. He won’t because the President needs this chaos as to deflect from everything else that’s happening. Being an opposition party in South Africa is the easiest job in the world because the Government actually gives you ammunition.’
EFF leader, Julius Malema, told the media that Ramaphosa is buying time, and that the President has no idea of which direction to take to achieve his goals.
’Well, there is no plan. The President doesn’t account for what he said. Last year, we heard the story of Tintswalo, born at the dawn of democracy in 1994. Seven years ago, it was about Thuma Mina (borrowed from Hugh Masekela’s song, meaning Send Me). But this means nothing if there is no accountability, none whatsoever. He uses this platform to just come and waffle. He says he’s going to create jobs, but he doesn’t tell us where and how a safe infrastructure is going to be developed. So much money has been put aside – where and how – but there’s no plan, it is just utterances that he makes, passing time. And then knowing very well that he will not be challenged by those he’s coming in with.’
The DA’s leader and South Africa’s Agriculture Minister in the Government of National Unity, John Steenhuisen, told Muslim Views that he was proud that some of his party’s successes in the GNU were mentioned in this year’s Address. While he was pleased that key issues were mentioned, he pointed out tht urgency was missing from the speech.
‘The government of national unity only has four years left. We need to move with much quicker urgency. Much clearer deadlines on things like concessioning the ports, on things like unlocking opportunities that are that are available in our country, getting rid of red tape that’s holding businesses and entrepreneurs back, fixing our labour regimes that we can make it easier for people to hire workers.
‘We don’t want to be in a situation in four years’ time where we’re sitting with some of these plans still on the drawing board, still on the officials’ desks and not being implemented.’
Al-Jama’ah MP, Advocate Shameemah Salie, also spoke to Muslim Views, and said she was disappointed that the President did not speak much, and in some instances not at all, on some key issues affecting that country. She lamented the similarity of Ramaphosa’s rhetoric to previous State of the Nation Addresses.
‘Initially, I thought that he had started off well, but then I got a bit of a shock because it felt like a copy and paste. I think that our people wanted to hear the bread-and-butter issues, and actually he was not speaking to the lay person.’
Salie stated that the President did not address crime adequately and that people are not going to the police and courts anymore due to a lack of trust. Salie also said that she was concerned by the number of learners not being able to go into tertiary education after passing matric and pointed to the poor quality of TVET institutions.
On unemployment, Salie said: ‘I’m very worried about the employment situation in our country. The fact that we’re focusing on the youth is good, but we’re forgetting the age bracket of 35 to 60. There are critical ages where you still need to ensure that people are employable. You are getting people that are 33, 34 saying, “I’m sorry, but you know, you’re unemployable because you’re too old.” When did one become too old when one is still raising a family? We also need to ensure that we able to deal with impact of unemployment as we go into the future.’
The Umkhonto we Sizwe Party’s (MK Party) Parliamentary leader, Dr John Hlope, also reiterated that the President missed some key issues and repeated his rhetoric.
‘We expected a lot more. Among other things, we expected the President to give us an update on the challenges that he identified earlier: issues of poverty, inequality and unemployment. But there was hardly and feedback on that.
‘As the MK Party, there wasn’t anything that we took home, quite frankly. It was the usual rhetoric.
‘On the issue of investing in infrastructure development, for example, the problem is this: the president, Mr Ramaphosa, did not tell us where money was going to be borrowed from. The devil is in the detail. If money is borrowed from the West, we all know the problems of Donald Trump, IMF [and the] World Bank. And obviously money must be used for the purpose for which it was borrowed.’
Despite opposition party criticism, MPs from the majority party praised this year’s Address. Minister of Science and Technology, and an ANC-SACP alliance member, Blade Nzimande, praised the President’s commitment to improving infrastructure, such as water systems which will ultimately benefit his portfolio.
The ANC’s Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, was also positive about the Address, giving it a ‘9 out of 10’.
This was the first time an ANC president has given a State of the Nation Address in a coalition government. And in his speech, Ramaphosa made several promises that opposition parties say will most likely not be upheld, citing the behaviour of previous ANC-majority terms. However, this Government is made of a number of different parties, and the fulfilment of these promises is going to be crucial not only for the survival of the GNU, but for the well-being of the country as well.
