Cape Town – Political parties are preparing for the debate on the State of the Nation Address on Monday after President Cyril Ramaphosa promised to fix the economy, fight crime and corruption and shake up the security cluster.
The ANC caucus was on Friday in a strategy session where it was preparing for the debate that will start on Monday and end on Wednesday when Ramaphosa will reply to the debate.
Opposition parties have said there was nothing new in the Sona Ramaphosa presented on Thursday.
However, the ANC believes he hit the right notes to revive the economy.
But ANC allies Cosatu and the SACP said there were some missing links in certain parts of the speech.
They want the crisis at Eskom to be dealt with as it is a threat to the economy.
Load shedding has been besetting the country over the last few months.
Cosatu and the SACP also said the issue of unemployment was a serious problem, with the majority of the unemployed being young people.
Unemployment reached 34.9% at the end of last year, which Statistics South Africa said was the highest recorded rate.
Civil society said while it welcomed the extension of the R350 social relief of distress grant to next year March, they want the government to implement a basic income grant.
Ramaphosa said there would be further engagements on this issue. However, he warned that any form of grant should be affordable and the ANC national executive committee has called for a further study on the matter.
The National Treasury had also cautioned that any basic income grant programme must be affordable and sustainable.
The government introduced the R350 grant after the break out of Covid-19 two years ago and it has been extended several times.
Ramaphosa was also slammed by opposition over intelligence and security lapses during the July riots last year. They have called for the overhaul of the security agencies.
Ramaphosa has promised to deal with changes in the security cluster after an expert panel chaired by Professor Sandy Africa reported that there had been intelligence and security failures during the riots which took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July.
The report also said ANC factional battles were at the centre of these problems.
Political Bureau
