Divided expectations ahead of SONA
President Cyril Ramaphosa will have the difficult task of allaying concerns about the country's prospects when delivers his annual address to the nation on Thursday.
The State of the Nation Address will come on the back of political instability, the continued wrath of the Covid-19 pandemic and a lacklustre economic performance.
This year's SONA will give Ramaphosa another chance to set out government's plans for the months ahead battling corruption and infighting the governing ANC.
The prestigious event will be held at Cape Town's City Hall after parts of the parliamentary precinct were gutted by fire earlier this year.
The National Assembly went up in flames last month, with the dramatic scenes playing out for the world to witness.
A lone suspect was arrested on a litany of charges, including arson and terrorism.
The fire also reignited calls for the country's Parliament to be relocated to Pretoria.
Political analyst Theo Venter doesn't believe this proposal will make the cut for Ramaphosa's speech.
"I don't think there will be an announcement that Parliament will move to Pretoria, that I don't think is forthcoming but what is really important in this State of Nation is the economy.
"The economy is key to several other of the other issues that are important such as unemployment, youth unemployment and such as the income of government through taxes and it starts with the economy.
"His main aim would be to talk about the business climate and what government can do to make things easier in the country.
Venter believes investor confidence could be boosted by Ramaphosa taking a hard-hitting stance on corruption and dealing with the damning findings of an expert panel report on the July unrest.
"I don't think we'll hear him talk about factions in the ANC because SONA is about government business and not party business so I think that will be a silent part of his part, but it will be the elephant in the room.
"I think he can make a fairly interesting list of progress and one of them is what South Africa did following a very slow start in the Covid pandemic to a position where we can actually manufacture the vaccine ourselves," Venter adds.
Economic analyst Azar Jammine believes structural reforms should take centre stage in Ramaphosa's speech.
"It's precisely there where there is a lot of scepticism as to whether anything that he says will come to be implemented because that has been the experience of the past where there have been a lot of promises and very few of them have actually borne fruit."
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