Ramaphosa’s opening of parliament ‘will have broad sweeping statements’

Political analyst Sipho Seepe says South Africa should not expect much from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech at the opening of parliament.

Ramaphosa called for the opening of parliament to take place on 18 July 2024. This year’s opening of parliament will be the first under the government of national unity (GNU).

Seepe said over the years, presidential speeches under the ANC government have lost meaning.

“I do not see Ramaphosa giving us anything. The only difference will be who he decides to quote. This is Mandela month, there will be a lot of Mandela in the speech,” he said.

Challenges posed by GNU

Seepe said over the last 30 years, South Africa had failed to address the challenges of inequality, poverty, and unemployment. He blamed the ANC for failing to address these and added that it will now be more difficult to implement with the GNU.

“Those issues that the ANC put on the table, they failed to deliver on them when they had an outright majority. Now they will be addressing those issues disadvantaged by the fact that they must accommodate other parties whose interest may not be those of the ANC constituency,” he said.

“They (ANC) have failed to implement their own policies. On their own, they were not even able to speak with one voice. Imagine how much incoherence to expect now,” he said.

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According to Seepe, the ANC had lost the will to implement some of their policies which have been taken at conferences over the years.

He said this has caused divisions in the ANC, leading to the formation of factions such as the Radical Economic Transformation (RET).

“The opening of parliament will have broad sweeping statements, it will be the same story about rainbowing while South Africa is a poster child for inequality,” he said.

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Seepe said the ANC-DA relationship will be hard to manage because of the huge differences in policy positions between the parties.

Despite this, he said the GNU partners could rally behind what is common among their policies to make government work.

“They will be united about the common commonalities that will emerge from the GNU. None of the parties will argue against poverty reduction and the need to address unemployment, none of the parties will argue around the issue of inequalities,” he said.