SA was not in the hopeless situation that some opposition MPs wanted citizens to believe, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday during his reply to the debate on his opening of parliament address last week.
Addressing a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, he said SA had come a long way over the past 30 years and had made progress in pursuing equitable and sustainable development.
“Let us never lose sight of that. Certainly, there have been setbacks and shortcomings and I am one of those who are the first to admit that. But we have done much to recover from these and are now committed to move forward with greater speed and impact as the government of national unity (GNU).
“Urgency is the currency of the times in which we now live. Our GNU is determined to rapidly scale up the pace of our efforts to bring development and shared prosperity to our people by working together,” Ramaphosa said.
SA politics had entered a new era of hope and optimism for the people of the country, he said. “We must demonstrate in word and deed that this is an era of a government of national unity and not a fleeting convenience.”
Ramaphosa said he had told cabinet ministers that there should not be any competition among parties to the GNU “to outdo each other or lay claim to the policies that we collectively adopt”.
Our GNU is determined to rapidly scale up the pace of our efforts to bring development and shared prosperity to our people by working together.
For much of the sixth administration from 2019-2024 the focus had been on addressing the challenges that impeded growth such as state capture, lack of reforms, Covid-19, load-shedding and the breakdown of state-owned enterprises. Efforts were also made to overcome the silo mentality that pervaded the work of government, which contributed immensely to inefficiency, duplication and waste of resources.
The seventh administration would be defined by the strategic alignment of priorities with greater efficiencies and a focus on the optimal use of resources.
Job creation had to be the pillar of the government’s partnership with business, with a particular focus on the lower end of the labour market. To promote women’s economic empowerment, 40% of public procurement would be channelled to women-owned businesses.
Transformation and growth were two sides of the same coin — one could not be achieved without the other.
Ramaphosa reiterated that a key task for the government over the next five years would be to ensure that everyone had equal access to affordable, quality healthcare through the implementation of the National Health Insurance, but said dialogue would continue.
On foreign policy, Ramaphosa said SA was committed to “silencing the guns on” the African continent and to SA’s part in peacekeeping and peace-building efforts.
“We will continue to pursue progressive internationalism and advance principled solidarity. As the government of national unity, we will continuously pursue a foreign policy based on the national interest, our country’s economic objectives and in furtherance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.”
Ramaphosa criticised EFF leader Julius Malema for playing the man and not the ball during the debate on his address by accusing him of being a collaborator of white monopoly capital.
He told Malema to source the facts about his political background and the role he played in the formation of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which he cofounded in the 1980s.
Speaking off the cuff in Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda, Ramaphosa addressed Malema directly: “Malema, you and I need time to sit down and speak. Two years ago, you stood here and insulted me, and insulted my father and said he was a policeman. I am proud to be a son of a policeman, a very good policeman. I have never insulted your grandmother or even yourself because I respect you.”
Ramaphosa said NUM was formed as a “shield and a spear that is going to improve the lives of mineworkers and they did exactly that. It embarked on a 21-day strike that stopped the entire mining industry in this country. And you call that a sell-out position. That was not,” said a visibly irritated Ramaphosa. “The question I would ask is: ‘Waar was jy, where were you?’” /With TimesLIVE
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