Firstly, no-frills and pomp as the ceremony has now been budgeted only R100 000.
Secondly, the economy is unstable due to numerous factors that has seen rating agencies hovering like hawks ready to pounce and to precipitate the situation Covid-19 is showing us ‘flames’ that had leaders and other politically connected figures loot billions of public money.
This all took place while Ramaphosa had committed to tackling corruption and mismanagement in government. Yes, the wheels of justice are taking place and Ramaphosa and other enforcement agencies should be applauded for the initiative.
The pandemic has caused more than 2.2 million South Africans lose their jobs in the second quarter of 2020, the height of last year’s hard lockdown. And this will continue for sometimes.
With the GDP estimated to have shrunk by 7.8% in 2020, some economists were expecting Ramaphosa to use the 2021 Sona to present a new blueprint to pull the country out of the ruins of Covid-19.
With constant blackouts thanks to Eskom ineffectiveness to resolve the matter, investors are looking somewhere else for a brighter future; youth’s unemployment figures are rising unabatedly, and the mooted extension of the R350 relief grant, which was proposed by the ANC national executive committee last month but has yet to find expression at government level, bolstering SMME’s, are some of the negativity Pres Ramaphosa has to deal with tonight.
The issue of allowing municipalities to generate their own power or procure from independent energy generators also featured in last year’s Sona.
All most 99% of municipalities are in dire situation because they can’t account for their expenditures, exacerbated by corruption, maladministration, lack of skills and capacity, poor services and so on, as tabled by the late Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu.
We hope the blunder on the vaccines won’t visit us again as happened these past days and the roll-out will be as effective and robust for our frontline-workers throughout the country without exceptions.
Progress has been visible in other projects/programmes but what about those you spoke about in your last year’s STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS?
Mr President where to from here -qua vadis?
Image (Under pressure Pres Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa to deliver a very different SONA in Parly tonight).
