SONA: Ramaphosa wants to create utopia with an unrealistic action plan 

20 June 2019

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) is a striking example of ANC ideology being confronted with the reality and the ANC then choosing to rather cling to its ideology. The President realises that the country is in a crisis and he undertakes to create an utopia, but he intends on achieving it with an action plan that is not only unrealistic, but will also probably be destructive. This is the concern expressed by the civil rights organisation AfriForum after tonight’s State of the Nation Address.

“The crises pointed out by the President were all created as a result of the governing ANC’s political ideology. The proposed solutions are repeatedly to cling to the same ideology that created these crises with more enthusiasm,” says Ernst Roets, Deputy CEO of AfriForum.  

“The President’s utopian promises regarding ‘smart cities’ with skyscrapers, express trains, cheap data, that nobody in the country will suffer from hunger, that the economy will grow faster than the population, that quality education will improve considerably and that violent crime will be halved or possibly even disappear completely, are not met with realistic action plans,” says Roets.

In his speech he said the state is the solution and that the state must play a more entrepreneurial role and execute “master plans” to build the economy. Proposed solutions for various crises are repeatedly that the state must become more involved, which entails that the state must spend more money. 

AfriForum is of the opinion that the solution is rather vested in giving the society bigger freedom to arrange their lives according to their choice, to conduct their business without state interference, to appoint people and to let the economy grow.   

In his speech, Ramaphosa referred to a few of the big challenges currently being faced by South Africa, and took a strong stance that it is now the time to take action.    

“The President’s plan of action is repeatedly to present the state as the solution for people’s problems, which will eventually lead to a situation where people are even more dependent on the state, which in turn will likely lead to the problems deepening even more,” concludes Roets.  

Issued by Carina Bester, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 20 June 2019