Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa is on Wednesday expected to reply to the debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA), after he came under fire from opposition parties.
The DA, EFF, IFP, ACDP and UDM blasted Ramaphosa for lack of substance in his address last Thursday.
EFF leader Julius Malema accused Ramaphosa of dumping ANC Nasrec resolutions to expropriate land without compensation and nationalise the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb).
But ANC MP Seiso Mohai, who is the chief whip of the National Council of Provinces, defended Ramaphosa.
He said the EFF were not the spokespersons of the ANC. “The ANC has not assigned anyone to be its spokesperson. No one is a guardian to its conference resolutions,” said Mohai. He added that the election of Ramaphosa in last month’s poll was an affirmation of the support he had in the country.
But Malema also urged Ramaphosa to come clean on the people who donated funds to his CR17 election campaign. Malema accused Ramaphosa of backtracking on ANC resolutions. “Last week you retreated on the expropriation of land without compensation and the nationalisation of the Sarb,” said Malema.
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DA leader Mmusi Maimane said the country was in the throes of a health-care crisis. He said state-owned enterprises needed major reforms, and that the National Health Insurance (NHI) would not work and would cost the country billions. But Health Minister Zweli Mkhize denied this and said there was no turning back on the NHI.
ACDP leader Rev Kenneth Meshoe said he supported Ramaphosa in his defence of the mandate and independence of the Sarb. UDM chief whip Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said Ramaphosa’s Sona was not a comprehensive plan to turn around the country.