Nina Bambeni | nina@radioislam.co.za
16 February 2023 | 21:50
2 min read

Photo Credit: Twitter

While the country awaits President Cyril Ramaphosa’s expected to reply to the debate on the SONA today, the convener of Rise Mzansi, Songezo Zibi, wrote an opinion piece stating that last week’s chaotic SONA is not just ‘one of those’ – but imperils our future.

The SONA marks the official opening of Parliament. But he writes that over the years, this solemn tradition of the democratic era has degenerated at the same pace as South Africa’s elite political culture.

Zibi wrote about the overturning window, where society becomes used to things previously considered unthinkable; the overturning window is when you have overtime behaviour that was previously considered wrong and unacceptable. Zibi was referring to the behaviour of the EFF at the State of the nation address (SONA), where MPs have lost the proper understanding of the SONA and attended intending to cause unnecessary disruptions and disrespect.

Zibi iterated about the speech and debates that followed, stating that this has proven meaningless over the years. The only thing needed is action, informed mainly by attitude, seeing that the speeches and debates focus primarily on PR matters and not the actual problems. The SONA will always be meaningless until the time when we are shown the actual budgets and allocations of them.

However, it is not all doom and gloom, seeing that we live in a democratic country. We, as South Africans, can make rational decisions and choose better leadership in the upcoming elections.

Listen to the full interview with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie on Your World Today.