'Tintswalo' done waiting for ANC to change - Steenhuisen
DA leader John Steenhuisen has told President Cyril Ramaphosa that the children of democracy can no longer wait for the ANC to change.
MPs are debating the president’s State of the Nation Address in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The president used the figure of 'Tintswalo', a child of democracy, to illustrate the government's progress since 1994.
"She grew up in a society governed by a constitution rooted in equality, the rule of law, and affirmation of the inherent dignity of every citizen,” Ramaphosa said in his address.
“Tintswalo and many others born at the same time as her were beneficiaries of the first policies of the democratic state to provide free health care for pregnant women and children under the age of six.”
However, the president’s efforts to tell an uplifting story of the past 30 years left many South Africans unimpressed, saying the president failed to paint an honest picture of the current state of affairs.
Speaking on Tuesday, Steenhuisen said, like millions of other South Africans, Tintswalo cannot afford to live in the past.
"She must survive in the reality of what South Africa is in 2024, not in the memory of what South Africa was in 1994. When she is reminded of her hopeful childhood, it fills her with sadness for the childhood that awaits Esona.
“When she remembers how her family moved from a shack into a formal house with running water and electricity when she was a young girl, it hurts and shames her that she ended up back in a shack with no running water and constant power cuts as a grown woman.
“The memory of how excited she was at her graduation quickly turns to anger when she realises that she has now been unemployed for twice as long as it took her to obtain her qualification," said Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen added that when ‘Tintswalo’ listened to her president on Thursday, it did not make her grateful.
"For here is the hard truth, Mr President, whether you like it or not: you have betrayed Tintswalo’s South African dream.
“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.
“She knows that the only reason she had a better start in life than her parents did, was because her parents stood up and fought for change when it was required," said Steenhuisen.
The ANC’s chief whip in Parliament, Pemmy Majodina, defended Ramaphosa's address, saying it was an honest reflection of where South Africa stands.
"From 2023 SONA, the progress is inspiring. I repeat, the progress is inspiring,” she said.
“Alongside many challenges that we have outlined, notwithstanding the two years of Covid-19, this government did all that it could do.”
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