Sona was ‘fair and balanced’, says ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address (Sona) was an honest and balanced reflection of where South Africa stands, according to ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina.

“As the ANC and the nation, we are inspired by the president’s address last Thursday,” Majodina said when she opened the parliamentary debate on Ramaphosa’s speech.

“He has detailed the undertakings from the 2023 Sona. The progress is inspiring,” she said.

Majodina said besides the “many challenges” that included two years of Covid-19, the ANC government has done all it could do.

“The choice we face as a nation in this year’s elections is to reaffirm what we said we are going to do in 1994: implementation of a national programme of transformation that will result in qualitatively changing the lives of most of our people who are black in general and women in particular because they are in the majority.”

She said the ANC will continue to take the country forward with all its challenges towards a better future for all.

Taking a shot at the multiparty charter made up of opposition parties including the DA, Majodina said: “Under a conglomeration of opposition parties, they will entrench wealth among the few. Under them poverty and inequality will grow”.

She said the “moonshot pact” was a grouping of opposition organisations that would undo the country’s gains.

Majodina warned South Africans “not to side with those who benefited from the historical legacy of the privileged who seek to block transformation at every turn as they cling to preserve their wealth, their properties and positions at the expense of the majority”.

The debate is scheduled to continue into Wednesday.

TimesLIVE