OPINION: Sona no longer excites citizens
Well known author and resident writes about how South Africans are tired of empty promises, refering to the recent Sona and added that politicians can't fool people all the time.
• Thabile Mange writes:
I think our democracy is normalising. The hype around the State of the Nation (Sona) address has subsided. People are no longer excited by the president’s Sona address. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
Sona 2025 was the first under the Government of National Unity (GNU) umbrella. However, it was delivered by the same culprit president Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa. Therefore, there was nothing new that Ramaphosa said. It’s the same old issues.
The president did not touch the load reduction issue. According to Dr Trevor Ngwane, load reduction affects the poor. If true, then the poor don’t matter. What matters is their votes. I hope the downtrodden will change their voting behaviour in the next elections.
Interestingly, the DA, a GNU partner, is fast losing its identity. It’s response to Sona was positive. It also claimed that it has made major contributions to Sona. John Steenhuisen’s party was just playing politics and trying to score cheap points.
On the other hand, our opposition political parties are ineffective. Their response to Sona was not inspiring. They all sounded like a stuck record. I felt like they were criticising for the sake of criticising – and not dealing with issues.
Lastly, Ramaphosa is a good person but a bad leader. He makes sincere promises but fails to deliver. He’s been doing that since he became the first citizen. And citizens are tired of empty promises. You can’t fool people all the time.
