SONA: Empty promises will fool no-one
8 February 2023
South Africa has had enough of empty promises and President Cyril Ramaphosa cannot simply repeat the same plans and promises he made in previous State of the Nation Addresses (SONA).
These empty promises by ANC heads of state have formed a pattern where the same plans are rehashed, or tweaked a little, every year to try and fool the public.
An example is the 2022 promise that more will be done to create a favourable environment for the private sector in order to stimulate economic growth.
Nothing came of it. On the contrary, along with administrative red tape the suffocating screws of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Affirmative Action (AA) have only been turned tighter.
That is evident in the Employment Equity Amendment Bill, which was passed last year.
It affords the Minister of Trade and Industry extensive powers to decide for himself where transformation in the workplace is falling short, and what the new transformation targets ought to be.
All that is left is for the President to sign it. It is the complete opposite of what he promised a year ago.
Legislation like this has caused South Africa's private sector and the country's economy unmeasurable damage. The President's promises and reality are obviously two vastly different things.
Likewise, very few of the other SONA promises realised. The President must say why they were not implemented, and he must announce decisive plans for stimulating the economy.
The President must be very honest about the ongoing power crisis and he must put forward government's plans to address it in great detail.
Harsh experience has, however, taught that it is best to temper any optimism about the practicality of SONA promises.
Thursday's SONA will, like before, probably be no more than a rehash of the grand ideas and impractical plans of the past.
Under ANC rule, the country's administration has deteriorated to such an extent that even viable plans are difficult to implement. It has plunged the country into this current crisis.
The FF Plus does not foresee any deviation from the recipe that the ANC has been following to run South Africa into the ground over the past three decades.
Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 8 February 2023
