{"id":94852,"date":"2025-02-04T13:41:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T11:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=94852"},"modified":"2025-02-04T13:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T11:41:33","slug":"sona-2025-will-ramaphosas-address-be-another-set-of-empty-promises-for-a-struggling-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/sona-2025-will-ramaphosas-address-be-another-set-of-empty-promises-for-a-struggling-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"SONA 2025: Will Ramaphosa\u2019s address be another set of empty promises for a struggling nation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n4 February 2025 | 13:41 CAT
\n4-minute read<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As South Africa awaits this year\u2019s State of the Nation Address (SONA), the question on many citizens’ minds is whether President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s words will hold any weight. For years, SONA has been a grand affair\u2014filled with red carpets, designer outfits, and political theatrics\u2014while millions of South Africans struggle with poverty, unemployment, and economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Radio Islam International, Roger Solomons from Build One South Africa (BOSA) highlighted the deep divide between the spectacle of SONA and the daily struggles of ordinary South Africans. \u201cIn the recent past, I think as South Africans, we’ve become accustomed to this event, with its glitz and its glamour and its fancy and political grandstanding, while millions of South Africans remain trapped in poverty and joblessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a glaring contradiction. The streets around Cape Town\u2019s City Hall will be closed off for the event, security will be heightened, and the political elite will parade before the cameras. Meanwhile, just kilometres away, informal settlements remain plagued by crime, lack of basic services, and an ever-growing sense of despair.<\/p>\n

Year after year, the president\u2019s SONA address is filled with promises\u2014commitments to job creation, economic growth, infrastructure development, and tackling corruption. Yet, as Solomons pointed out, \u201cThe president has, since 2018, made many commitments and promises and signals of intent. But\u2026 the truth is that there\u2019s not an actual plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of follow-through has eroded trust in government. \u201cSince 2018, so many promises have been made- promises that\u2019s now just broken promises, \u201d Solomons noted. \u201cWe cannot have more broken promises made.\u201d One such promise was the president\u2019s 2022 pledge that within 100 days, a social compact to combat hunger and grow the economy would be signed. Years later, that compact remains non-existent.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s missing is accountability. Opposition parties occasionally call out the president on his failures, but often with a political agenda of their own. Solomons argued that South Africa needs a proper forum to hold the government to account\u2014not just for opposition parties to score points, but to ensure real oversight. \u201cIt\u2019s very, very important, and as BOSA, we’ve always said, you know, people before politics, and we believe in collaborating and to ensure that there\u2019s an independent, that there\u2019s proper oversight, not just over the presidency, but to take stock as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without accountability, SONA risks becoming an annual charade. \u201cWe cannot have SONA after SONA after SONA after SONA. It becomes\u2026 all about the glamour and grandstanding and the red carpet. And tomorrow morning, South Africa just wakes up and it’s back to usual. And there\u2019s no accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the heart of South Africa\u2019s crisis is the economy. Joblessness remains a pressing issue, and despite years of promises, the situation has not improved. The reality is stark: without economic opportunities, crime will continue to rise, and social instability will worsen.<\/p>\n

Solomons believes that a fundamental shift is needed. \u201cEarlier we mentioned that in the absence of a credible plan to grow the economy, you know, we need that plan, and we are saying as BOSA, the 5% growth is needed.\u201d He emphasised the need to invest in township economies, which remain neglected despite their potential to drive grassroots economic growth.<\/p>\n

Solomons also suggested that the government divest itself of its private shareholdings. \u201cGovernment owns billions and billions of rands of private shares. Why government has private shares, I don’t know. And we say sell all of those private shares and redistribute that money or shift that budget into ensuring that the township economy grows and to ensure that there is a breadwinner in every South African home.\u201d<\/p>\n

This approach would be a dramatic departure from current government policy. Instead of relying on vague promises of foreign investment and large-scale infrastructure projects that often fail to materialise, the government could channel existing funds into small businesses and local economies where they would have an immediate impact.<\/p>\n

As the nation tunes in to SONA, South Africans are asking: will this be another night of empty words, or will it mark a turning point?<\/p>\n

Solomons offered a straightforward solution: \u201cInstead of trying to have pages and pages and pages of commitments and promises, stick to the five or three critical commitments, and make sure that it’s executed, and let’s keep those accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

For too long, SONA has been about optics rather than substance. If this government is serious about change, it must move beyond lofty rhetoric and take meaningful, transparent action. Otherwise, the disconnect between the red carpet spectacle and the grim reality facing ordinary citizens will only grow wider.<\/p>\n

Listen <\/strong>to the full interview<\/a> on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za 4 February 2025 | 13:41 CAT 4-minute read As South Africa awaits this year\u2019s State of the Nation Address (SONA), the question on many citizens’ minds is whether President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s words will hold any weight. For years, SONA has been a grand affair\u2014filled with red carpets, designer outfits, and political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":94853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sona-disparity-2000kb.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-oFS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 07:29:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}