Sona: Too confusing to be worth much

If you ever want to give a person a headache, forget trying to fill them with liquor and waiting until the morning after. Simply ask them what the point of the State of the Nation Address is. I think the most, as a nation, we were ever invested in this annual speech was when Gareth Cliff turned it into a drinking game. The mornings after back then were particularly bad.

So, sitting, staring at my laptop trying to make heads or tails of the speech, I find myself asking why bother at all.

The speech happens every year and it’s not like it’s ever used to hold anything to account. I’ll bet that even senior journalists won’t know off hand what was in the Sona three years ago. Historically, the most memorable Sona moment was the interruption of uBaba to ask him if he’d pay back the money via eWallet.

Oh, and then there’s the commentary afterwards, with the DA claiming that the bulk of the Sona could have been one of their speeches and Juju making as if privatising the public sector is a bad thing.

And then you sit and wonder. Does the political banter actually offer me anything more than the Sona? It just looks like an ego flexing game between those who don’t want to be held accountable and those who don’t want to hold others accountable.

If you are ever looking for grand political banter, Wednesday afternoons offer a fantastic hour of embarrassing disengaged engagement from the OG colony. Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK parliament is so ridiculous that Americans consider it a reality TV show. Yet, it’s been a traditional feature of British politics forever and very little, if anything comes from it.

The “show” is also more predictable than your granny’s favourite soapie. The prime minister will get asked a question on something challenging. The answer will come in the form of a deflection and misdirection towards a bragging point. The questioner will go on to say that the PM didn’t answer the question, ask another question and receive a further parallel answer. It’s an incredible education for those looking to become spin doctors.

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Our Sona though, leaves me feeling as disappointed but without the benefit of an education. Oh, Pres Cupcake buys his suits at Foschini? That’s nice. Oh yeah, I remember the unrest last year. Nice that he’s mentioned that. There was something about job creation in there too, but it’s been said in various forms each year. Guess he’s ticking the boxes. I just don’t know who decides on those boxes and frankly I hardly care anymore.

For all the pomp and circumstance we gift to the Sona, there’s very little we get in return. Yes, it’s not a manifesto launch. Sure, there may be fewer undertakings in a Sona than in, say, a campaign speech. It just means one of two things. Either the Sona is hardly a priority to South African discourse and we should stop treating it like it is or, my preference, door number 2.

What’s behind door number 2? Using the Sona to hold the executive to account. I would love it if some publication or even an opposition party sat down and bulleted every discussion point from every Sona by every president. If side by side, you could see that the same president from the same party is saying the same thing as the dude before, not only would you feel less bad about that copy-paste project you did in grade 9 but you’d also be able to use the Sona as gauge to note how your leaders are doing.

El Presidente can say whatever he likes in the Sona because he knows nobody is going to remember what he says in a year’s time. His opponents can equally fire off freely without fear of repercussion… not that anybody really cares either.

For the Sona to make any sense, this nonsense of treating it like an annual isolated event needs to stop. We need to start treating it like an update from the previous version. Those of you who have gone on to Windows 11 will know, if you don’t like an update, you enjoy the product a lot less. Then again, God forbid the next update causes us to want to roll back to the previous version.

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