The week ahead is extraordinarily busy with parliament coming out of recess and opposition parties having their say on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address (Sona) last Thursday.
The two houses of parliament will also get an opportunity to query the president’s address — the first he made as head of the government of national unity.
While Ramaphosa focused on how the seventh administration would fix the deplorable state of local government in SA and get the country’s public transport and freight rail as well as port systems working better in the short term, he also expressed worry over deteriorating relations with the US.
Relations between SA and the US have been tense for the past few years, with the tension being heightened by the former’s position on the Gaza conflict between Israel — a key US ally — and Hamas.
This weekend US President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing aid to SA and offering refuge to Afrikaners in the US for what he called SA’s bad laws that discriminate against the white minority in the country.
The withdrawal of aid is expected to have a significant impact on SA as some of its programmes, such as the fight against HIV/Aids, rely to a great extent on US aid.
At the heart of the decision on Friday was Trump’s disapproval of SA’s land expropriation policy, signed last month to make it easier for the state to seize land in the public interest, and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
The fallout and the executive order that culminated from it is expected to dominate many boardroom and dinner table discussions this week.
The presidency has already responded to the US order by saying it was misinformed and did not follow diplomatic channels. However, it said the government would continue engaging the US government on it.
“The level of trade and aid is a by-product of a strong bilateral relationship. The president is concerned about the bilateral relationship and the manner in which matters have been handled,” spokesperson Vincent Mangwenya said on Friday.
The White House decision tests Ramaphosa’s determination to assert SA’s sovereignty in pushing through domestic policies and its commitment to the legal and moral stance to protect the rights of the Palestinian people and hold Israel accountable for its actions in Palestinian territories.
It came a day after Ramaphosa told South Africans that SA would “not be bullied”, indirectly responding to Trump’s social media post earlier in the week in which the US president said “SA is confiscating land” and that “certain classes of people were treated very badly”.
Both organised business and opposition political parties have dismissed the claims as inaccurate and misinformed.
But before parliament sits on Tuesday, Ramaphosa is expected to lead discussions on the way forward for the ANC in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal on Monday.
The ANC’s highest decision making body, the party’s national executive committee, took a decision to “reconfigure” the structures follows the two provinces’ dismal electoral performance in the May 29 2024 general election.
The ANC’s daily operational body, the national working committee, is expected to meet on Monday to chart the way forward.
What Luthuli House decides could have major implications for the ANC’s performance in the 2026 local government elections but also kick start the party’s succession battle ahead of an elective conference in 2027.
Also on Tuesday the department of correctional services will offer a briefing on prison reforms.
Another important briefing in parliament on Tuesday is how the digital sector is to be reformed to lower the cost of communication in the country.
The portfolio committee on home affairs in parliament will deliberate on the donations limit and disclosure threshold to fund political parties, independent candidates and independent representatives.
There will be a briefing by the department of planning, monitoring & evaluation on Tuesday on the findings of the 2023 implementation evaluation of the national food and nutrition security plan.
On Friday, the portfolio committee on basic education will engage government on the 2024 matric examinations outcomes and the quantity and quality of new entrants to SA’s workforce. This comes amid continued high levels of unemployment and inequality in SA, which is a cause for concern as it creates social discord and political instability.
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