Pretoria - South Africa is falling apart and President Cyril Ramaphosa must equally take the blame for plunging the country into darkness and spiralling unemployment.
These were the sentiments of DA leader John Steenhuisen delivering his “True State of the Nation Address’ in Cape Town yesterday. Ramaphosa is due to deliver the official State of the Nation Address tomorrow.
Steenhuisen said the country’s worsening hardship was brought about by the government not condemning the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, that had contributed to the food and fuel crisis in the country.
“If Thursday is truly about the State of our Nation, look past the smoke and mirrors and cherry-picked stats, and take in the bigger picture of the full five years of this administration.
“That’s how you will see whether we’re making any progress. Look at the country’s trajectory on crime, unemployment, infrastructure maintenance and investment. Look at the trajectory on capital and skills flight, load shedding and poverty. See where we now stand and which we’re heading.”
The reality for ordinary South Africans – as opposed to the pampered ANC elite who had insulated themselves from the government failures they engineered – was that life had progressively become harder over the past five years, he said.
“Increases in the cost of living have far outstripped earnings; most certainly for those trying to survive on grants, which is now almost 50% of the population.
“That’s the 18.4 million South Africans on social grant, plus the 10.5 million recipients of the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant. For these people, the sharp rise in the price of a basic basket of goods plus multiple above-inflation fuel price increases and electricity tariff hikes, have made life unbearably hard.”
That situation would only get worse this year, he said, as high-stage load shedding wreaks havoc on the economy, shut down businesses, and send even more people to the social grants queue.
The government’s social grants spending this financial year would reach a massive R364 billion – almost 60% of the entire non-interest spending over the next three years.
“Now factor in the shrinking tax base and exodus of capital, businesses and skills … we are headed for an unprecedented crisis if we don’t drastically change course.
“Last July’s riots will seem like a tame dress rehearsal the day the government can no longer pay social grants. We cannot risk such a situation,” he said.
South Africa was losing hundreds of thousands of jobs, due to an ANC-made load shedding crisis, Steenhuisen said.
Pretoria News