Ramaphosa not impressed with quality of MPs' replies in Sona debate

President Cyril Ramaphosa is not impressed with the level of debate MPs displayed when they discussed his state of the nation address (Sona).

MPs spent the past two days dissecting the speech delivered by Ramaphosa last Thursday.

In his reply, Ramaphosa told the MPs that as much as he understands that they need to be critical of his speech, they were too focused on positions held by their different political parties. He said they failed to properly debate the contents of his speech and come up with tangible solutions because they were too focused on their political parties' stances on various issues.

“When we debate the Sona, yes, [we must] be critical as members of this august body that represents our people — but also bring forward good suggestions and proposals that will be able to take our mission forward,” said Ramaphosa at the beginning of his reply.

He said by staying true to their party positions, MPs showed what danger this brought to nation building.

“Some speakers held firm to the denialism and distortions demanded by their party positions. This debate illustrated the dangers of retreating to corners isolating ourselves in ideological, cultural, racial and linguistic enclaves and hardly ever engaging beyond our immediate circles,” said Ramaphosa.

“This is not conducive to nation-building in a situation like ours at this time, where diverse people live side by side in our beautiful country.”

He said the poor level of debate made the national dialogue, which is expected to be held this year, even more important because he expected MPs to debate issues that directly affected the country.

“This is what makes our forthcoming national dialogue so important. South Africans informed by their different lived experiences can discuss the many challenges facing our nation and develop common solutions. And this is what I would have wanted to see coming out of this debate,” he said.

“As South Africans we have sat around the negotiating tables and forged agreements under much more trying and fraught circumstances. The journey we are embarking upon now through the national dialogue will result in a concrete process to become more united and stronger in the face of many political, social and economic challenges that we face globally and locally.”

Some of the ANC MPs who spoke in the past two days chastised MK Party's parliamentary leader John Hlophe, who used his speech to sing the praises of Jacob Zuma, a former president of the country and now leader of the MK Party.

Hlophe told parliament Zuma was the most successful president of the country and that  Ramaphosa was not better at his job than Zuma had been. He said the characterisation of Zuma’s presidency as nine wasted years was not true as Zuma was at the centre of ensuring there was adequate service delivery to, especially, black people.

Hlophe spoke glowingly on Zuma’s legacy as president, saying that unlike Ramaphosa, Zuma had not made countless empty promises. His speech was described by ANC MPs as a weak debate speech by the leader of the official opposition, with some saying the less said about his speech the better.

Ramaphosa said he was, however, happy that some of the MPs were able to acknowledge the work the ANC government had achieved in the past 30 years.

“It is encouraging that a great many of the contributions in the debate also appreciated a great progress that we have made as a country over the past 30 years.”

Those who are tempted to claim that no progress has been made “know down deep in their hearts that they are talking to the wind”, said Ramaphosa.

“This progress is owned by the people of South Africa — and let me be clear:, it is not owned by any individual. Even the great Nelson Mandela never for one minute claimed that he had freed the people of South Africa. And even as people might have tried to vilify him, he always said we did it together as the people of South Africa — and that is what we should do.”

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