“[Critics] are prepared to dismiss all of this progress because it does not serve their narrative of a failed nation, it does not serve their political aspirations, it does not serve their narrow interests,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a veiled reference to the DA in particular, and opposition political parties in general, in his reply to an acerbic State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate.

“They do not want a national democratic society. They want to preserve racial privilege and to reverse the fundamental social and economic transformation that is taking place in our country.”

Thursday’s dig at the opposition benches as racist, elitist and naysayers falls in line with the tone the governing ANC set at its January 8 Statement rally. Then Ramaphosa, as party boss, talked of the onslaught by “anti-transformation forces” against the ANC with the aim “to deprive the ANC of the ability to use state power to effect change”.

It’s classic ANC tactics to pull into the laager for a fight against an enemy — and it has helped the governing party to mobilise significant support. It’s a crucial approach ahead of the upcoming elections, in which pundits predict the ANC may lose its outright majority.

The increasing use of such tactics can be expected on the campaign trail as the elections draw closer. The date of the polls is not yet known, but may be announced next Wednesday after a meeting between Ramaphosa, the Electoral Commission of South Africa and premiers. Wednesday is the second-last day that the election date can be announced, after the Presidency said on 7 February it would be announced within 15 days.

Election klap delivered, Ramaphosa, as commander-in-chief, missed a beat to honour the two SANDF soldiers killed and the three others wounded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday. 

“We dip our heads for those who are injured and those who may well have fallen,” said the President, going off script as he dismissed criticism of the SANDF deployment, which is part of the Southern African Development Community mission.

Neither did Ramaphosa use his Sona debate reply, which was broadcast live, to pay tribute to the Oryx helicopter pilot, who, despite a shot-off finger, managed to safely land his chopper. The helicopter was on a medical evacuation near Goma in the DRC earlier in February.

Instead, the President seemed regretful about the acerbic Sona debate, which highlighted divisions across the political landscape (read here and here).

Those sharp divisions in the House were also reflected in how South Africa’s past, present and future were viewed. 

“We cannot forget the past. Even if we wanted to, the past we have been through as a nation has left deep scars in many of our people, and those scars are not going to be washed away or wished away,” the President said, going off script from his official written speech.

He used his one-hour, 10-minute reply to highlight South Africa’s development and transition under successive ANC governments since 1994, as he had in his 8 February Sona.

“It is not a Ramaphosa legacy; it is an ANC-led government legacy. I never want it said this is a Cyril Ramaphosa legacy; it is our people’s legacy,” Ramaphosa humble-bragged to applause from the ANC benches.

On Thursday, dozens of real-life Tintswalos — Tintswalo was the name Ramaphosa gave to an allegorical “child of democracy” in his Sona — sat in the public gallery. Representing engineers, pilots, police, doctors, naval captains and other professionals, Ramaphosa called them the “young South Africans who are proud to be part of the generation of Tintswalo”.

They were proof, he said, of improvement and fundamental change brought by the ANC, including the 4.7 million houses built, school nutrition, free healthcare and education, and social grants. 

“Away from the noise and the spectacle, our country is being steadily and fundamentally transformed for the better. As we gather here, as we debate and differ and prepare for the election campaign trail, a quiet revolution is taking place,” the President said.

That, he said, included more than R1.5-trillion raised in investment pledges, several hundred thousand job opportunities created for young people through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, infrastructure spending to rebuild rural roads and bridges, reestablishing the institutions needed to fight crime and corruption independently, and with integrity, and investment in solar energy, including R70-billion in the Northern Cape, as part of the overall plan to beat rolling blackouts.

He again hinted that the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant may become the “foundation for a more permanent income support for the unemployed”.

Despite the electioneering klap for the opposition, Ramaphosa hammered home cooperation and working together.

“Some here only spoke of the positive. I have taken care to speak of our shortcomings and challenges, but I have also said we must come together.

“We must confront our apartheid past, which remains visible as we travel from suburbs to townships, from rich farmlands to poor villages.”  

On Wednesday, 21 February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has the unenviable task of delivering what could be a harsh reality check when he tables the 2024 Budget in Parliament. DM