MK sounds a warning to Ramaphosa: Broken promises will cost the ANC at the polls
“Because of your promises, they will make sure your party is punished in the local government elections,” MKP’s Des van Rooyen warned President Cyril Ramaphosa during a heated debate on the State of the Nation Address.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s MP Des van Rooyen says voters across all provinces have asked the party to tell President Cyril Ramaphosa that, because of his unfulfilled promises, they will ensure the ANC is severely punished in this year’s local government elections.
He made the remarks during a joint sitting of the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday afternoon, where MPs debated Ramaphosa’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The debate will continue on Wednesday at 2pm. The president is expected to reply on Thursday at 2pm.
The SONA, delivered last Thursday, is a joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament and one of the rare occasions that brings together the three arms of state under one roof.
Van Rooyen said the address lasted more than two hours and cost more than R7m from the national fiscus.
“The MK Party says it was not a State of the Nation Address. It was a State of Intent Address,” he said.
“It described plans, committees, trustees, another investment summit and what the government hopes to do.”
He said the president had failed to account to the nation for the performance of the disunited so-called Government of National Unity (GNU).
“A nation in crisis cannot be governed by intention,” he said.
“In 2018, the president began his tenure with the Thuma Mina slogan and introduced South Africans to the imaginary story of Tintswalo. Under this slogan and story, we have had only promises.”
Van Rooyen said promises of economic growth, accelerated infrastructure development, reduced crime, eradicated corruption, job creation and reimagined municipalities had not materialised.
“The lived experience of our people tells a different story,” he said.
“In Johannesburg, communities queue at water tankers in Africa’s most industrialised city. In rural provinces, families still share stream water with animals, and their calls for reliable sanitation fall on deaf ears.”
He said the GNU’s failure to commit to the MK Party’s call for free education meant students continued to face registration and accommodation challenges each year.
“Even those young people with qualifications sit at home, excluded from the economy,” he said. “This is not recovery. It is stagnant.”
Van Rooyen said while the president claimed the country had “turned a corner”, growth remained weak, unemployment structural and poverty entrenched.
“South Africa’s population grows faster than its economy,” he said.
“If an economy grows slower than its population, it is not progressing. It is a per capita decline, where more people fall into poverty.”
He said the party could not celebrate while millions were trapped in poverty or dependent on social grants.
“We welcome the easing of consumer price inflation because it lowers food prices,” he said.
“But low inflation amid poverty and high unemployment is not enough. It must be accompanied by economic growth.”
Van Rooyen criticised what he described as the National Treasury’s austerity approach, saying lower interest rates should be matched by increased investment in growth-enhancing infrastructure.
“If youth unemployment remains among the highest in the world, we are wasting our demographic potential,” he said.
He said municipalities continued to struggle to deliver water and electricity consistently because of systemic infrastructure failures.
Van Rooyen also claimed that rail capacity, port efficiency and energy supply had deteriorated after Ramaphosa took office in February 2018.
He said Cape Town was ranked the worst-performing port in the world in 2022 and that rolling blackouts intensified from 2020.
He criticised the appointment of Eskom’s former leadership, but added that the power utility had since stabilised under other professionals.
He said the country had fallen short of the targets set out in the National Development Plan ahead of 2030 and criticised the GNU for failing to measure its successes and failures.
“The global order is shifting. Nations are pursuing industrial strategies and protecting strategic sectors,” he said.
“South Africa is richly endowed with mineral resources. We have no excuse not to reindustrialise.”
Van Rooyen said the country stood at a crossroads and could not continue with “committees and commissions without consequences”.
“The people of South Africa deserve more than this managed decline. They deserve a better state of the nation,” he said.
He said the MK Party, which emerged in 2024, now had a presence in all nine provinces.
“Voters in all these provinces have asked us to convey a message to you,” he said.
“Because of your promises, they will ensure your party is severely punished in this year’s local government elections.”
He added that voters wanted an alternative government that would grow the economy, create jobs, fight crime, combat illegal immigration and address poverty rooted in apartheid.
“The MK Party is ready to offer that alternative,” he said. “We hope the outcome of this year’s local government elections will not shock you, because we are warning you now.”
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
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