Higher education deputy minister Buti Manamela has defended the ANC government against a two-day onslaught from opposition MPs who slated President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address (Sona) as far-fetched and called his legacy “dismal”.
Manamela suggested the opposition was stretching the truth, twisting facts and repurposing lies to represent these as an alternative to the ANC government.
“The running slogan of this propaganda has been that ‘the ANC has failed as government, it is going to lose elections, it will manufacture lies to pull the wool over the eyes of the people — if this fails, it will steal these elections just as the rest of their black counterparts have been doing throughout the continent’,” he said.
The people, however, will know to be careful who tells them that the ANC has failed and what their nefarious intentions are, he said.
Manamela pointed out that the upcoming general election would be South Africa’s seventh since 1994, and in all those years there had never been even a shred of suspicion or accusation that any of the elections had been stolen.
The statements about election fraud were made not only to create doubt and suspicion, but also to foment chaos in the inevitable event that their prophecy fails.
“We have seen elements of this self-fulfilling prophecy playing itself out in this Sona debate, with even the skinniest of political parties pitching up to this lectern with pumped up chests to lecture us about how the ANC has failed and how they have done better that the ANC where they govern.”
All we remember about [the IFP’s] contribution during the government of national unity was when the late leader of the IFP, the honourable Mangosuthu Buthelezi, became acting president for a day and comically ordered the invasion of Lesotho.
— Buti Manamela, deputy higher education minister
Manamela, who was the sweeper in the debate — parliament jargon for the last speaker — tried to take the debate to the opposition, highlighting their failures where they govern.
“Even the IFP did not want to be left out of this party as they manufactured the claim that they, as part of the government of national unity, were at the centre of progress, and that KwaZulu-Natal was a shining example of progress when they were governing there.
“How cute.
“How soon do they want us to forget that they were dragged kicking and screaming to the first national general elections, and that all we remember about their contribution during the government of national unity was when the late leader of the IFP, the honourable Mangosuthu Buthelezi, became acting president for a day and comically ordered the invasion of Lesotho.”
Manamela also sought to debunk the DA claim that where it governs, it governs better, saying the people of Tshwane would not agree with this after billions of rand were halted by the Treasury this week because the DA-led municipality had failed to spend the money meant for infrastructure development in township communities.
He listed what he said were DA failures, which included the “shutting down” of a EPWP mass employment programme named “Operation Vat Alles”, the cancelling of a free-Wi-Fi programme that provided internet access to young people, adding that Tshwane, once a clean city under the ANC government, “resembled a dumping and sewerage site and health hazard”, as service delivery had completely collapsed, particularly in the predominantly black townships of Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Soshanguve, Hammanskraal and Bronkhorstspruit.
“Poverty levels have worsened under the DA leadership, since the poorest of the poor in Tshwane are now denied an opportunity to be on the indigent register, which qualifies them for free basic services such as water and electricity.
“They discontinued the Tshepo 10,000 youth empowerment programme, whose intention was to empower young people with entrepreneurial skills, among others.”
Manamela frowned upon opposition MPs’ criticism of Ramaphosa for comparing the democratic government’s achievements to those of the pre-1994 regime, saying the ANC cannot keep quiet about the “monumental changes” its government brought about since 1994.
“This apartheid that you claim was better than this ANC kept most people out of formal education, while in 2022 only 6.9% of South Africans were without formal education,” he said.
Manamela said there had been an increase in the percentage of households that used a flush toilet as their main type of toilet facility in 2001-22 and so was the proportion of households using electricity as the main source of energy for lighting from 58.1% in 1996 to 94.7% in 2022.
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