EDITORIAL | Sona: much to like, but we want to see it actioned

Thursday was a big night for President Cyril Ramaphosa. Shortly after 7pm, as he stood up to address the nation, he did so with a series of darkening clouds hanging over his head.

The ANC, which he leads, is deeply divided, a situation that could worsen in the run-up to and aftermath of its national elective conference in December. On top of this, SA is facing unprecedented levels of unemployment — youth unemployment in particular — and record-high fuel prices, along with spiralling food costs. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are a mess, for the most part, and Ramaphosa’s administration is riddled with allegations of corruption and malfeasance.

The president’s state of the nation address (Sona) also came just days after Eskom implemented stage 2 load-shedding and a mere seven months after the violent “failed insurrection” of July 2021, in which, according to an expert panel, R50bn was “wiped” from the country’s economy and more than 300 people left dead.

Then, of course, there is the ongoing issue of the coronavirus pandemic, complete with questions about how Ramaphosa’s administration handled the crisis, from Covid-19-linked corruption to restrictions that left many sectors reeling.

It was in this harsh context that the president delivered his address at the Cape Town city hall. It was hoped he would acknowledge the failures and challenges, and deliver a message of hope. Without doubt, it was his toughest Sona yet — and for the most part, he made the right noises.

In a year in which he could have grandstanded in a bid to win ANC re-election in December, he was realistic, focusing on what needs to be done to deal with SA’s problems. He was openly critical of Eskom and of his cabinet’s failure to handle the July riots.

His comments about business, big and small, rather than government being a creator of jobs might have gone down like a lead balloon in his party and might seem to state the obvious, but they were important from the president of a party that has often pretended the state can create millions of jobs.

It must be said, however, that his appointment of businessman Sipho Nkosi to look into “red tape” in small business is an admission that Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has failed in her job as minister of small business development. Or was it a tacit admission that the department is not necessary? Either way, it was a telling appointment that demonstrates just how ineffective the state has been in this area.

The extension of the R350 Covid-19 relief grant is welcome, along with the president’s comments that its future will depend on affordability. In the main, whatever the financial considerations, the amount is an important lifeline for many desperate people on the margins of economic activity.

Ramaphosa’s statements about the future of the country’s ailing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were also interesting. He is right that they must be “more efficient, competitive, accountable and sustainable”, and we should also welcome that his government will consider which will “be retained, consolidated or disposed of”.

Ramaphosa also made the right noises about fighting corruption, even if we’ve heard them before. He might have expressed confidence that the NPA would do its job in taking alleged perpetrators of state capture to task, but this is nothing more than a hope or wish, given the little action we’ve seen in this regard over the years. He told us nothing concrete about how this would happen.

However, the promised interventions, along with the blunt admission of his cabinet’s failings in the wake of the report on the July riots, must be welcomed.

Thursday’s Sona was Ramaphosa’s chance to assert his authority and while it certainly wasn’t one he squandered, it did leave room for improvement. The words were good, but the key will now be action and results.