DA MP and national spokesperson Solly Malatsi says the painful reality of the state of South Africa is that the ANC government is failing to deliver on the mandate of the Bill of Rights.
Malatsi said so much of the hope that South Africa would rise to a prosperous society is located in the Bill of Rights, which obliges the government to provide basic services to all those in the country. “The painful reality of the state of our nation today is that the ANC government is failing spectacularly to deliver on the mandate of the Bill of Rights.”
Participating in the second day of the state of nation address (Sona) debate, Malatsi said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration had squandered the public goodwill the president carried when he ascended to the highest office, to become the biggest disappointment of SA’s democracy.
“Many of us gave you the benefit of the doubt that you will live up to your promise of a new dawn. We all believed in good faith that your patriotism would mean doing what is best for the country at all times, even if it wasn’t best for your party,” he said.
“But what did you do? You blew it. You betrayed the public goodwill to choose your party over our country over and again.”
Malatsi said while Ramaphosa’s “praise singers” paraded him as the Messiah who would lead SA into the promised land, he turned out to be a smooth talker, high on promises yet low on delivery.
“The true state of the nation is that many South Africans no longer have the patience to give your government ‘more time’ to do the simplest task of delivering basic services. Your government’s mishandling of our economy is inflicting immeasurable suffering to millions of South Africans who are scrambling to survive.”
Referring to a gluttonous scandal where it was revealed that millions of taxpayers’ money was spent on catering aboard the presidential jet, Malatsi questioned how this was allowed when thousands of families could not afford to put food on the table. “When all South Africans offered their goodwill for you to at least live up to your words about lifestyle audits for ministers, what did you do? You blew it!”
For all your boasting about Tintswalo, there are thousands of young people who have never worked a day in their life and will likely never find work in their lifetime for as long as you are the president.
— DA MP and national spokesperson Solly Malatsi
Malatsi claimed that Ramaphosa’s speech on Thursday night exposed his government as a serial underachiever that is content with mediocrity. “And you have consistently proven that you are beyond rehabilitation for anyone to believe that you can perform better,” he said.
Like other opposition MPs he cited the high unemployment statics which show that more South Africans were unemployed in 2024 than when Ramaphosa came into office in February 2018.
“With a youth unemployment rate of 43.4%, little else has changed as young people still struggle to find a job.
“For all your boasting about Tintswalo, there are thousands of young people who have never worked a day in their life and will likely never find work in their lifetime for as long as you are the president,” said Malatsi.
He dismissed the Tintswalo’s story as an inaccurate representative sample of a generation of young people.
“From Soweto to Soshanguve, there are hundreds of young unemployed graduates who are struggling to find jobs because of your administration’s economic policies. These young people have been sentenced to a lifetime of despair by your government. For them, every single day under your administration is a brutal reminder that the government has left them behind. So Tintswalo’s story is not an accurate representative sample of a generation of young people in our country.”
Malatsi also sought to rebut statements made by cabinet ministers during the two-day debate, pointing out that more children go to bed hungry under the Ramaphosa’s presidency than before.
“Late last year, the Nelson Mandela Foundation revealed that close to 5-million children in our country are starving.”
Addressing the minister of mineral resources and energy Gwede Mantashe, he said it was ironic that the minister boasted about the number of households that have been electrified since 1994, when South Africans spend more days without electricity than they do with it due to load-shedding.
According to independent estimates, Eskom shed the equivalent of 283 days in 2023, costing the South African economy R1.6-trillion in lost economic activity.
Malatsi questioned Ramaphosa about the inaction regarding Paul Mashatile, who has been implicated in wrongdoing in a series of exposes by News24 since he became the country’s deputy president.
“Mr President, when you look at yourself in the mirror do you absolutely believe that deputy president Paul Mashatile is a man of integrity? Do you absolutely believe that he is ethically beyond reproach?
“Every time you had an opportunity to show the country that you are serious about fighting corruption, when it’s done by your comrades, what did you do? You blew it!”
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