EFF STATEMENT ON THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS: Zuma told lies and claimed easy victories!

14 February 2014

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) notes the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered in the joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces in Cape Town yesterday. Like all previous State of Nation Address, the 2014 one basically told many lies and claimed easy victories.

Importantly, there was no clarity in the entire SONA of whether Mr. Zuma was giving account of the successes from 1994 or from 2009 when he assumed office as President of the Republic. This is important to flag because there are so many contradictions and lies by omissions that were committed in the 2014 SONA. For the entire period where Mr. Zuma claimed easy victories, the EFF has the following observations to make:

1) The post 1994 government has dismally failed to bring unemployment below 20% and has still not changed the patterns of economic growth because they believe through the neo-liberal National Development Plan that pursue growth first and the rest shall follow.

2) The increase of jobs in South Africa from 11 million to 14 million is not a victory or creation of the post 1994 government, such happened because from 1994, the population has grown from 40 million people to 52 million people in 2014.

3) There are no sustainable jobs that the ANC can claim to have created, because the jobs that happened since 1994 happened in both the public and private sector because the population grew.

4) In 2004, the ANC 1994 government claimed that they will halve poverty and unemployment by 2014 and it is 2014 this year and poverty levels and unemployment are not halve the 2004 levels. That's a dismal failure because there are more unemployed people in 2014 than there were in 2004.

5) In 2004, the ANC government claimed that by 2014, 30% of land would have been redistributed, and it is 2014 this year and the land government bought from those who stole it does not exceed 10%. This again is a dismal failure because most of the land government bought has not been successfully utilised due to lack of strategic support.

6) Mr. Zuma claimed that the current government is fighting corruption, failing to acknowledge that more than R30 billion is lost annually due to government corruption and incompetence, which include the construction of Nkandla.

7) The Universities Mr. Zuma claims were build in the past 5 years can only take less than 500 students while there are more than 700 000 children who leave the secondary schooling system every year.

8) The increase of NSFAS Budget to R9 billion has also not helped many students because they continue to be financially excluded and students whose parents earn R120 000 per year are excluded from receiving NSFAS loans, and this bracket has been in place since NSFAS started.

9) There is still no National health insurance despite a commitment that it will be established in the 2009 general elections.

10) Rural areas are trapped in the same conditions they were before 1994, with no introduction of real economic activities and programmes for rural communities. This happens even after the establishment of a rural development department at national level.

11) Workers are still paid very low wages and there is no mechanism to improve their conditions.

12) Labour brokers are still in place, and they are not banned and not regulated even when there was a commitment to regulate or ban them.

13) Under Mr. Zuma, South Africa has turned into a police state which was highlighted with the killing of Mineworkers in Marikana and many other innocent protestors.

14) Mr. Zuma is claiming to be condemning violence during protests when his own political party was throwing petrol bombs and bricks at Democratic Alliance protestors when they were fighting over who is the best neo-liberal and right-wing policy implementer in Johannesburg.

These are just some of the failures and massive systemic crises that define the ANC government, but Mr. Zuma has the courage to go and lie in front of many people that all is well. There are many realities that define South Africa and EFF will expose each and every one of those. South Africa is in deep crisis and the term under Zuma has worsened the conditions of the people. The people of South Africa should never be mislead by Charlatans who are running away from the rule of law, and doing everything in their power to stay in office even when majority of the people disapprove.

The EFF Elections Manifesto launch on the 22nd of February 2014 in Tembisa, Mehlareng Stadium will be the real and official State of Nation Address. The EFF SONA will be real because it does not tell lies and will never claim easy victories. The EFF SONA in the official launch of the manifesto will speak the truth and chart a clear way forward on what is going to happen in South Africa post May 7th 2014 general elections.

Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, February 15 2014

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