Ramaphosa’s SONA an attempt to rewrite history of a struggling nation – analyst

JOHANNESBURG - Political analyst Sanusha Naidu said President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address (SONA) was an attempt to rewrite the history of a struggling nation.

During his nearly two-hour speech to Parliament on Thursday night, Ramaphosa detailed the country's progress regarding unemployment, a crippling electricity crisis, and corruption.

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While Ramaphosa conceded the country had serious problems, he maintained throughout his address that it was a better place than it was under apartheid.

Naidu said Ramaphosa used his SONA to play up his party's achievements over the last 30 years but gave little detail about his plans to address the country's current major challenges.

"There was nothing concrete about SONA. I think that is the problem with a president that uses the kind of approach where he wants to be engaging on issues but not really engaging on issues.

"The fact that his style of government is one of indecisiveness actually comes through very much in the State of the Nation Address."

She said the president failed to highlight key policy objectives and deliverables for 2024.

"The idea that you talk about millions out of poverty, you talk about the economy growing three times more, you talk about the Eskom debt restructuring – all of it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not measuring it against something.

"That’s the problem when you start creating the reality that you want to create. You create such a minimalist bar for yourself that anything above what your expectations are looks like an incredible success."