‘It’s just the same deal’: Critics question Ramaphosa’s repeated promises

Are President Cyril Ramaphosa’s new promises made after opening of parliament this week more of the same or do they bring fresh hope?

Civic movement United Democratic Front South Africa said many of the announcements made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his opening of parliament address were a repetition of his 2018 promises and will not address the plight of black people.

The front’s interim national chair, Jo Mboweni, reacting to the address, also said the promise to turn the country into a construction site is a pipe dream.

He said 20 of the items regarded as priorities in the address had been repeated since 2018 and not much realised in that space.

Neutral speech with issues heard before

Political economy analyst Daniel Silke said: “It was a neutral speech to provide a platform for the GNU to begin their work. Many were issues that we have heard about for many years.

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“The pressure is on the GNU to perform in areas that had a buy-in from the parties, in particular the DA as the second-largest partner in the GNU.

“This speech was more significant than previously because it concerns a multiparty Cabinet that is itching to get down to business and begin a process of renewal in a more transparent way than before,” Silke said.

Indigenous African, coloured and Indian child doomed

According to Mboweni, while the Afrikaners secured their future generational well-being through their pensions, the future of the indigenous African child is doomed for another 14 to 15 years, the coloured child for 11 to 13 years and the Indian child for eight to 12 years.

“The impact is worsened by the intention to release part of the pensions to cater for joblessness and the social plight of these groups,” Mboweni said.

On Ramaphosa’s promise to turn SA into a construction site, he said this was impossible considering how the fiscal cake is divided.

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The government relied on the SA Revenue Service (Sars) revenue and foreign borrowing.

“Almost 64% of Sars’ earnings goes to civil servants, lawmakers and grants, 17% is mostly monies Sars owes to the SMMEs and 9% is due to big business. At least 10% of the R1.8 trillion cannot turn SA into a construction site as most of it must cater for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and similar programmes.”

Mboweni said that if Ramaphosa carried out his plan to remove key management positions in the municipalities, he must ensure that labour law and the constitution are observed, or there was a risk of huge litigation costs.

Construction site idea would not happen

The construction site idea would not happen, he said, because 10% of the budget has to go to municipal infrastructure grants.

UDFSA is scheduled to interrogate Ramaphosa’s address in a webinar next week.

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The organisation has changed from being a broad front against apartheid to a post-democracy civil society organisation and has adopted the motto, “Active Citizenry for Transformation and Accountability”.

GNU relying on ANC policies

Political analyst Prof Dirk Kotzé, from Unisa, said the thrust of Ramaphosa’s announcements reflected that the GNU was relying on ANC policies.

He said it was important that the ANC was no longer dominating the process and the president had left it to each minister to identify issues that needed to be changed.

“There is hope. Parties in the GNU are all very enthusiastic about the process,“ Kotze said.

Silke said Ramaphosa steered away from controversy, avoiding talking about National Health Insurance in depth, cadre deployment and foreign policy.

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