It is all systems go for Sona. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing mounting pressure to fix the economy, crackdown on crime and corruption and deal decisively with the energy crisis at Eskom as power cuts continue unabated.
Opposition parties have called for Ramaphosa to address these and many other challenges facing the country, including school violence and the crumbling infrastructure.
They said the State of the Nation Address should not be another missed opportunity, as the problems need government to resolve them.
The Good Party called for Ramaphosa to deal with the energy crisis as it was affecting households and businesses.
“Share the state’s urgent and implementable plan to stop load shedding (a State of Disaster is not a plan to stop load shedding) and give consumers an immediate break by assisting them to acquire solar power,” said Good secretary general Brett Herron.
He also called on Ramaphosa to announce legislative measures to deal with coalition governments as they were a source of instability in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and other municipalities.
“Other countries, more experienced than ours in coalition politics, have developed rules to mitigate the instability of constant manoeuvring and musical chairs. Among them are that duly appointed mayor’s serve their full terms, regardless of coalition movements, and that the party that attains the most votes in the election has the first opportunity to form a government,” said Herron.
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) also called on Ramaphosa to address the energy crisis, saying load shedding was having a serious impact on service delivery.
It also urged him to deal with coalition governments in municipalities and the municipal debt which was now sitting at R290 billion. with departments, households and businesses owing municipalities.
It said load shedding was a serious issue and required attention.
“To relieve pressure on Eskom and ensure energy security, Salga is promoting the acceleration of the energy transition on behalf of its member municipalities, including legislative changes that would allow municipalities to produce their own electricity and buy electricity from independent power producers,” said Salga.
“Salga requests that the President give a status update on the introduction of renewable energy independent power producers in the country’s energy sector as well as plans for ending persistent load shedding, which has had a negative effect on municipalities, consumers, and small businesses,” said the association.
The IFP said Ramaphosa has to come up with realistic solutions to the country’s problems as it battles crime, corruption, loadshedding and unemployment. Even the education system was in a mess.
IFP national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the country has run out of time and needs urgent action from government.
The problems would not gi away and Ramaphosa has to take a lead in solving all the challenges.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the country was in crisis with rampant crime, corruption, crumbling infrastructure, unemployment and load shedding.
He said the rolling blackouts have caused businesses to close down and the economy was on its knees.
He said the economy was struggling to grow. Steenhuisen added that State-Owned Entities have almost collapsed.
Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the government needs to re-industrialise to get the economy back on track, crack down on corruption and end load shedding that has cost the country billions of rands.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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