Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
16 February 2024 | 13:48 SAST
2 minute read

A joint sitting of the National Assembly (NA) and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) was hosted by Parliament at Cape Town City Hall on February 13, 2024 for the Sona debate.  President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to the debate on February 15, 2024.

The President’s response to the debate exemplifies the political rhetoric and persuasion tactics used to convince audiences to adopt an idealistic instead of realistic perspective, Angelo Fick of the Auwal Socioeconomic Research Institute (ASRI) said on Radio Islam International this morning.

“As somebody who can be suave, who can be charming, who can invoke rhetoric of a particular kind to persuade his audience, in this case not just the Members of Parliament sitting in front of him, but the larger South African audience that will watch this, that their perception of things is the skewed perception and what he has sketched on behalf of his party is, in fact, the more credible one,” Fick says.

Fick highlights a pervasive trend of prioritising style over substance in parliamentary discourse, with politicians across party lines focusing more on rhetoric and delivery than on addressing the pressing challenges facing the country.

The President’s narrative of Tintswalo is not representative of the lived experience of all South Africans, especially the youth, Fick says.

The reality is that there are high unemployment rates, poor education, substandard comprehension capacity in children, and high levels of poverty and hunger, Fick notes.

“What happens to the millions of people that we assume, based on research, suffer from the consequences of debilitating early childhood development, malnutrition, and lack of food?” Fick asks.

The President continues to paint a positive picture as an attempt to give hope to the people of South Africa, as opposed to the despair evoked by opposition parties. However, the stories that are told need to be more inclusive and representative of the struggles of the people on the ground, Fick says.

Moreover, Fick raises concerns about the state of government oversight and accountability, particularly in the handling of municipal grants and infrastructure projects. The dispute between National Treasury and Tshwane Metro over underspending on specific projects underscores broader issues of financial probity and service delivery within municipalities.

“We have to hold our governors to account at the local level, not only when they look like they’re overspending, but also on underspending, because those have negative longer term consequences for planning, particularly because that is the duty of National Treasury,” Fick says.

Fick also points out a failure in policing and crime intelligence, as evidenced by the rediscovery of a stolen substation connected to a private residence after ten years. He questions the efficacy of multiple police services in addressing organised criminality and calls for greater collaboration between all tiers of government to combat crime effectively.

Listen to the ASRI Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.