Bulk of Ramaphosa’s Sona could easily have been a DA speech, says Steenhuisen

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says the bulk of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday evening could easily have been a DA speech.

Sona 2022

Reacting to Ramaphosa’s Sona delivered at Cape Town City Hall, Steenhuisen said the president should be commended for at least saying some of the right things during his speech. He also challenged Ramaphosa to implement the plans he outlined to the nation, saying “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”.

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Job creation

Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa’s “realisation” that government doesn’t create jobs was a considerable departure from the governing ANC’s “central control-obsessed approach to the economy and jobs”.

“He is entirely correct in this new assessment. But until he walks the walk by significantly reforming labour legislation and by downsizing his bloated public sector with its thousands of millionaire managers, that will just remain talk,” Steenhuisen said in a statement.

During his address, Ramaphosa said it was a known fact that government did not create jobs, but businesses did.

He said the key task of government was to “create the conditions that would enable the private sector – both big and small – to emerge, to grow, to access new markets, to create new products, and to hire more employees”.

Cutting through red tape

On the president’s announcement that government was working to improve the business environment for companies by reducing red tape, Steenhuisen said this was precisely what the DA had been telling him for years.

“It is why the DA-run Western Cape has a very successful Red Tape Reduction Unit. If the president is serious about streamlining bureaucracy, he should send some of his ministers to the Western Cape on internships,” he said.

Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa’s announcement of a separate electricity transmission entity – as part of the break-up of Eskom – was also something the DA had been calling for over the years.

“So too his solemn promise to finally auction off broadband spectrum, which has made an appearance in every Sona of recent years. And his announcement that labour legislation for [small and medium-sized enterprises] will be relaxed must certainly be welcomed.”

The DA leader said based on words alone, Ramaphosa’s Sona was commendable, but “words mean nothing until you put them into action”.

He said if the president was serious about pushing through economic, labour and energy reforms in South Africa, he could count on the DA’s support.

“If not, we’ll do it without him in 2024,” Steenhuisen said.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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