Some political parties in Parliament have expressed mixed views regarding their expectations from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Opening of Parliament Address. The address is expected to outline key policies and their importance for the seventh administration, which includes 11 of the 18 political parties represented in the National Assembly, that make up the Government of National Unity.
The DA, one of the major partners in the coalition, says it’s happy that consensus was reached in the first Cabinet Lekgotla over the weekend, ahead of the Opening of Parliament Address. DA leader John Steenhuisen says, “We expect that in the opening, President Ramaphosa will outline South Africa’s reform agenda, which I’m proud to announce in many instances has alignment with DA policies as well.
This is important when it comes to unlocking economic growth and building a capable state and I’m glad to see the DA’s presence in the National Unity is strong and visible. And I trust that the President’s address will reflect the plurality of voices that now exist in national government and that he will commit himself wholeheartedly to this necessary policy shift, particularly after the highly successful Lekgotla that took place last weekend.”
The EFF’s Leanne Mathys says they have no expectations. “We don’t have any expectations, but we expect that we must give proper oversight here in Parliament, especially now that we have this white supremacist coalition between the ANC and the DA. So, more than ever, South Africa needs an opposition and a revolutionary movement like the EFF.”
ActionSA Parliamentary Leader Athol Trollip says the party wants to see if the new Ramaphosa administration will bring anything new.
“On the 29th of May, the electorate turned its back on the government of Cyril Ramaphosa. So now he has a new government. You can call it what you like, a grand coalition, a government of national unity. The first thing we want to know is what his plan of action is. What is he going to do differently? Secondly, what is he going to do about actually growing our economy because we have a really bad international reputation? We can’t generate foreign direct investment because there is no policy security. There is no political stability in this country, and those are the issues that drive the economies.”
RISE MZANSI Leader Songezo Zibi believes that South African voters have asked for a fresh start when they failed to give any party an outright majority in the elections. He outlines some of the expectations from the president’s address.
“So the first thing that we expect from the president is a beginning of a new vision. There is a new era in South African politics where hopefully we are going to be bold, because theoretically, with the GNU having so much of the percentage of Parliament, we should be able to take bold actions to solve things like crime, the food crisis, and grow the economy, and so, if we could get a solid idea of a new vision, that would be great.”
Build One South Africa Leader Mmusi Maimane says, “I would ask the President to ensure that the priority is the citizens of South Africa rather than the political class, that the priority be focused on the areas we’ve prescribed and that we produce for the people of this country a new substantive programme that achieves delivery of key areas to the people of this country.”
