SONA RISE MZANSI EDITION @KASIBCNEWS

SONA RISE MZANSI EDITION @KASIBCNEWS

The first State of the Nation Address (SONA) under the Government of National Unity (GNU) needs to send a clear message to the people of South Africa, and the investment community, that it there is a clear set of priorities and plans for implementation.

These priorities must cover all spheres of government and remain consistent until 2029. President Cyril Ramaphosa needs to show that he is in charge and can practice leadership that gets government working in coordination and as a focused unit with the people of South Africa.

South Africa has long passed the point of lofty speeches.  South Africans are besieged by organised and violent crime; small businesses struggle to survive; communities are without quality basic services; millions go to bed hungry; and the climate crisis threatens established ways of farming and living.

RISE Mzansi therefore calls on the President, in his SONA, to clearly outline and commitment to these four broad, but all-encompassing, priority areas, especially, in light of Cabinet’s recently adopted Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2024 -2029:

President Ramaphosa must assert his powers as an Executive President and put Ministers and senior public servants on a performance and delivery short leash. He must fire them if they do not perform or do not meet the ethical standards expected of senior office bearers. Such performance plans need to made public, so that officials and public representatives and their work are indeed transparently accountable to the people.

South Africans are looking for a set of uniting values and principles that cut across race, class, culture and religion. South Africa needs visionary, competent and accountable leadership with a sense of national mission, and respect for the dreams and wishes of the South African people; a reorientation of non-racialism to focus on systemic racism such as spatial injustice, poorly resourced communities, lack of basic community infrastructure, and poor access to economic opportunities.

The passing of the Expropriation Act has brought into sharp focus the nefarious efforts of some South Africans and foreign governments to undermine peaceful race relations, nation-building and the sovereignty of the country. The President must affirm and amplify the voices of the majority of South Africans who want “unity in diversity”, with a future-looking and non-racial lens, while correcting for the wrongs of colonialism and apartheid. Political parties and groupings which seek to diminish nation-building efforts at uniting South Africans, using fear and deceit, must be seen as and felt to be a minority.

The South African economy – business and government working together – needs to work towards growing the economy at more than 5% per year to defeat unemployment and poverty. This means significant investment in critical infrastructure (water, sanitation, energy, logistics and network infrastructure); mitigation plans for the climate crisis; and the success of small to medium sized businesses. These interventions need the buy-in of government and private sector role-players, particularly at national and local spheres of government.

To this end, RISE proposes a Wealth Tax to fund key development programs. The country’s current fiscal trajectory is unsustainable – and the public investments needed to kickstart the economy will not occur under conditions of effective austerity. The President should back such an initiative but with implementation plans to be announced by the Finance Minister in the Budget Speech later this month.

Cabinet must set targets for eliminating financial wastage, renegotiate expensive government contracts to achieve value for money, improve financial and procurement controls in all state entities and remove, and prosecute corrupt officials and political office bearers. Until South Africans see corrupt officials and politicians behind bars, there will be little faith in and respect for the criminal justice system.

 

Serious attention must be paid to violent and organised crime. Therefore, the government must:

 

· Allocate more resources to intelligence gathering and detective services to achieve a higher case finalisation rate

· Work to halve the murder rate over the next 5-years

· Prioritise ascendant crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and illegal immigration

· Strengthen community-level cooperation and crime prevention including better resource allocation to police stations and community policing forums (CPFs) in high-crime areas.

In addition to the above, President Ramaphosa needs to send a strong message about the future of the nation’s armed forces, generally, and the mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as it relates to underfunding, corruption and mismanagement. 

RISE Mzansi once again calls for a Defence Review, which considers the current economic climate, the effectiveness of the current South African Defence Force (SANDF) leadership and management, our involvement in foreign missions and the Force’s aging personnel, to name a few issues.

The people of South Africa are looking for a leader and leadership, not just from the President but equally their public representatives, in the form of Members of Parliament. The occasion of SONA and the years ahead need to be marked by seriousness, transparency and a sense that the issues facing South Africans matter and are receiving necessary attention.

Ultimately, South Africans are looking for a leadership that will guarantee them a safe, prosperous, equal and united country, where they live in dignity and happily.