Ramaphosa ‘the incapable head of the incapable state’
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says the African National Congress (ANC) will never be able to lead a capable state.
Steenhuisen delivered his alternative state of the nation address in Cape Town on Wednesday.
President Ramaphosa is set to delivered his State of the Nation Address at a joint sitting of Parliament on Thursday, where is expected to focus on ways to fix the country’s ailing economy.
But Steenhuisen says instead of presenting the real state of the nation, the president will once again present a sugar-coated version of the truth.
“This won’t be our president playing with a straight bat to the nation in a time of great crisis. This won’t be the president taking us into his confidence and spelling out the true extent of our challenges and the tough decisions and sacrifices we will need to make.
“No, it will be an hour of downplaying the bad and inventing the good. Of cherry-picking stats to show we’ve somehow turned a corner, and of whimsical dreams of a South Africa he knows in his heart he has no hope of achieving.
“All this while our economic doomsday clock ticks ever closer to midnight.”
#SONA2020 Steenhuisen says “the capable state” has become the president’s new mantra pic.twitter.com/GEC7WXAzVW
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) February 12, 2020
Steenhuisen says the DA believes the crisis at Eskom, land expropriation without compensation and the imminent implementation of the National Health Insurance all pose serious threats to an already-battered economy.
“We’ve seen what cadre deployment has done to Eskom. We’ve seen what it has done to SAA. We’ve seen what it has done to Prasa, Denel, Transnet, SABC and every other state-owned enterprise.”
He believes ordinary South Africans will have to lead the rebuilding of the country.
“That is where we need to hit the reset button and organise ourselves in a new way around common values and a common vision for South Africa.”
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