‘Cupcake missed his calling’: UDM slams Ramaphosa’s repetitive Sona

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday evening sounded like a “mere motivational speech and he has “nothing” to show for it, says the United Democratic Movement (UDM).

“He is the best at repeating the same message and promises using different words, singing in a different tune. President Ramaphosa, the nations’s ‘Cupcake’, is in the wrong calling,” said the party.

The UDM slammed Ramaphosa’s announcement that government would continue with the R350 grant for the next three months.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa’s idealism clashes with reality seen yearly

“Rightfully so, he said that young people are languishing in poverty, a sad and painful reality. It is even worse now with the impact of Covid-19. Then we have a president who will never in his entire life subsist on R350 per month, deciding that a mere R350 is a feasible amount for our poor to buy even enough food for their families for an entire month.

“It is a clear indication of how the man who has been entrusted to look after the interests of South Africans, the majority being the youth, is out of touch with the realities on the ground and that of the future,” said the party.

READ NEXT: Sona 2021 in a nutshell: ‘Like fynbos, South Africa will rise again’

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu said Ramaphosa sounded like a “hype man” of a dead horse.

“There is nothing fundamentally new that the president has said. There is nothing different which was not said before and that amounts to insanity – it is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The difference tonight was that he was trying to be a hype man of a dead horse,” he told the SABC.

[In Case You Missed It: Deputy President @FloydShivambu reacting to President Ramaphosa’s SONA. pic.twitter.com/1absKQxedO

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) February 11, 2021

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said the only way South Africa would survive is by removing the ANC from power.

“While appropriate, the president’s praise of the resilience of the South African people failed to recognise government’s role in testing this resilience,” said Mashaba.

He slammed the looting that happened when the country was under a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 and lack of leadership after former president Jacob Zuma said he would defy a Constitutional Court (ConCourt) ruling compelling him to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

“Of greatest significance was the shocking absence of detail about the vaccination programme. At a time where the Sona needed to generate confidence in the vaccination plans of government, the absence of these plans from the president was a glaring admission that no real plan exists.

“More time was dedicated to report back on the development of new megacities with high-speed bullet trains, than the time that was dedicated to communicate a vaccination plan.

“Despite reference to the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, no leadership was provided on the subject of former president Zuma’s creation of a constitutional crisis with his refusal to appear at the commission.

“If there is one message that arises from Sona 2021 let it be that we can get South Africa working and that there is hope, despite what emerges from our Parliament,” said Mashaba.

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.