IT’S showtime folks for the governing elite in all their finery to take centre stage and show their faces and sell their wares. While the State of the Nation Address (Sona) is a traditional annual event to mark the opening of Parliament, there is also much pomp and glory accompanied by a 21-gun salute and an aerobatic display by the air force.
Here you’ll see our pot-bellied leaders – the young and the old, the tall and the short, the thin and the fat – and with a bulge here and a bulge there, they waddle along into the hallowed precincts of Parliament. But this year there’s no Parliament. It’s been burnt down. Sona will have to make do with the Cape Town City Hall, another colonial building.
Unfortunately, fine feathers don’t always make fine birds, for many of those who walk the red carpet are some of the most corrupt men and women who ever walked this Earth. Shh! You fool! Don’t say that, for these are our “honourable” people who have taken the oath to serve the country.
The president himself has decided to keep mum about the state looters. Though he knows them, he’d rather fall on his sword than reveal their names. You see, they are a protected species. As card-carrying members of the ANC, they have earned the right to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor. No matter how much we may wail about corruption, it’s not going to go away as long as the ANC is in power.
As the race to the elective conference heats up, the president has only one thing on his mind – to secure the ANC presidency. All the rest, the poor, the economy, crime and corruption can take a back seat while he focuses on the leadership race.
When a minister in his Cabinet, Lindiwe Sisulu, who is a serious contender for the ANC leadership, ruffled Ramaphosa’s feathers and threw down the gauntlet with her attack on the judiciary, Ramaphosa dare not sanction her. It would have strengthened her hand and made himself unpopular.
So we cannot expect anything remarkable from Sona. It will be the same old drivel. The ANC-run municipalities are going to rack and ruin. Durban harbour, once the busiest port in Africa, is now one of the least efficient ports in the world.
Will he give the municipalities a deadline to get the towns and cities clean and functioning again? I bet my bottom dollar he won’t. If they could only serve the country and not themselves, what a great nation we would be.
But all good things must come to an end. The ANC was battered in the local government elections. For the first time, its vote count dropped below 50%. The biggest blow was the loss of several metros to the opposition. Oh Sona, what will you deliver? Anything to nourish the nation or will it be the same insipid broth?
T MARKANDAN | Kloof
Daily News