SONA: ANC and its policies are the fire raging through South Africa

11 February 2021

President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address (SONA) demonstrates how out of touch he is with reality; he appears to be living in some kind of fantasy world as amid one of the greatest crises in the history of our country, he is dreaming about supercities.

All while millions of people in the country are unemployed or dependent on a social grant for survival. The President and his government are clearly ignorant of ordinary citizens' desperate fight for survival.

The FF Plus expected that President Ramaphosa would announce detailed, feasible plans for how he plans to stimulate the economy and create more jobs. But once again, there was none of that.

The only way to grow the economy is to create a favourable environment for the private sector. The ANC's expropriation policy will achieve the opposite.

The President harped on about what "must" be done to save the economy. But that means nothing. Everyone knows what "must" be done. The real question is what has been done up until now. The answer is basically nothing.

President Ramaphosa frequently made mention of extensive infrastructure projects, promises of large investments and local production that must increase. None of it happens in practice and production will keep stagnating as long as restrictive laws paralyse the labour sector.

He also referred to the economic recovery programme and in the same breath, he confirmed the government's commitment to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). BEE is the very reason why South Africa's economy had been downgraded to junk status even before the pandemic – matters will only get worse if the government does not do away with it.

The President boasted about how easy it was to register more than a hundred thousand companies simply by pressing a few buttons.

That is not something to boast about, on the contrary, it is part of the problem as people without any expertise or skills can register a company with the sole purpose of obtaining tenders by means of BEE and political ties – something that became evident during the pandemic.

As long as the government holds fast to BEE and expropriation without compensation, nothing will come of even the most wonderful plans to grow the economy.

It cancels out all those plans. No prospective investor will invest its money in the country with such damaging policies in place.

The FF Plus welcomes the possibility that the local government elections will indeed take place later this year as it affords voters the opportunity to free the country from the ANC's paralysing grip.

In his speech, President Ramaphosa used the metaphor of the Cape fynbos that rejuvenates after an intense fire.

The truth is that the ANC government is that fire destroying South Africa with its poor governance and rejuvenation will only take place when the country gets rid of the ANC in the elections.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 11 February 2021