This week marks a new approach towards what the nation expects to be delivered by the state president, Mr Jacob Zuma when he delivers his State Of the Nation Address (Sona) in Cape Town this evening.
We cannot ignore the fact that the country is plagued by multitudes of setbacks in water provision, housing, unemployment and equitable economic opportunities on offer to close the gap among people of South Africa.
As we speak, numerous communities have once more embarked on service delivery protests.
The worst scenario being some that are perpetrated by some opposition parties that are hell bent on political point-scoring in order to gain favour from the electorate in all communities.
Zuma is also facing a mammoth task of allaying fears of foreign investors by addressing issues pertaining to corruption in government sectors. It is not all about just making an announcement, but tackling cases head-on.
People need to hear about specific interventions in that regard and the outcome thereof. Numerous jobs have been promised in previous addresses, but we need to hear about practicable in-roads that have been achieved and how other jobs have been created.
There is the continued issue of homelessness in communities which needs to be addressed, once and for all.
There is a lot of land under the ownership of foreigners who seemingly have a free hand in buying land, yet people of this country who fought so hard for the current democracy, do not have the land nor the houses to be part of the so often spoken-about, ” good story to tell.”
If there is certainly a good story to tell, let all people enjoy the fruit of our democracy and speak in one voice.
But as long as there are things to hide and grapplings for power and positions among our leaders, we will never see that day of a unified celebration for all.
Zuma must provide the answers tonight and certainly make this South Africa a truly good place to live.
