Political parties debate President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address in Parliament from Tuesday.
Ramaphosa delivered his SONA 2023 last Thursday, declaring a State of Disaster in light of South Africa’s energy crisis and saying there would be a minister of electricity in the presidency appointed.
WATCH: Parliament debates President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2023 State of the Nation Address
MPs hang their dirty linen in public with assassination plots, adultery
It was after Police Minister Bheki Cele, who first went for the EFF secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini, whom he accused of lying about his assassination plot claims by the IFP.
Read the full story here.
– By By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
UPDATE: LUNCH BREAK
Mantashe defends appointment of Minister of Electricity
Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe has defended the appointment of the Minister of Electricity, saying there was no time to resolve the energy crisis and the country cannot wait for 24 months.
Mantashe said the position of minister of electricity was not being downgraded when it was referred to as project management.
Read the full story here.
– By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
Malema, Steenhuisen fire salvo at Ramaphosa
EFF leader Julius Malema has fired a salvo at President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying he has done nothing during his tenure.
DA leader John Steenhuisen also entered the fray, saying Ramaphosa’s term has been mired in controversy including the energy crisis, unemployment and crime.
Read the full story here.
– By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
MPs break for lunch and will reconvene at 14h15 on Tuesday.
UPDATE:
Freedom Front + leader Pieter Groenewald takes the podium now. He says he predicts that in the build-up to elections, the race card will be played many times. He says the president only sees racism as white-on-black cases.
Groenewald asks Ramaphosa how many cadres are needed to keep the lights on? "One to hold the ladder, one to change the bulb...?"
He says it’s “common knowledge that BEE and affirmative action is the cause of Eskom's problems”.
Groenewald says the FF+ does not take responsibility for the Eskom at crisis. He asks the president if he listens to what the opposition parties say? He says he can submit a 10-point plan for Eskom but he doesn't think Ramaphosa will read it.
Groenewald says when Ramaphosa became President, he wanted to be "Madiba 2".
He says the problem is that there are many problems.
“The people who created the crisis cannot be the people who solve the crisis,” Groenewald says.
UPDATE:
IFP Chief Whip Narend Singh takes the podium and says that there is such a thing as too little, too late and that even if the government decides to "wake up now and do its job", it may be too late.
Singh says that had the government been as single-minded and focused as the IFP in the past, he has no doubt that the lights would still be on now. He says South Africans can be defined by load shedding and unemployment.
Singh says a revolution is coming and it won't be a silent one.
He says there are experts and brilliant minds in SA: "Why are we not using them?"
He says he met a UKZN student who studied at Cambridge, wants to come back with energy expertise but has received no response from the department.
Singh says that it is very difficult to believe new promises made when old promises remain unfulfilled.
UPDATE:
“We cannot fight crime when we are led by criminals,” says EFF Julius Malema, claiming the police are in cahoots with crime syndicates.
Malema has questioned the ability of the police to investigate the murders of AKA and DJ Sumbody.
Malema says in light of the appointment of a minister of electricity, “we should see a minister of potholes, a minister of flights, a minister of trains, a minister of Denel”, claiming Ramaphosa does not have what it takes to lead South Africa effectively.
UPDATE:
EFF leader Julius Malema has taken the podium.
A point of order has been raised by an ANC MP while Malema speaks. Says Malema has no standing to address the House as he also took the Parliament to court, he is "delinquent" and should sit down. The point of order is dismissed.
Malema’s speech is being interrupted by a number of ANC MPs raising points of order.
UPDATE:
Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele has now taken the podium. He says from where they are sitting, the DA believes the ANC is obsessed with government control and that's not true.
Gungubele says John Steenhuisen is obsessed in a blindfolded way. He says that black townships in DA-run municipalities are in a dire state and the DA cannot say they are fully successful. He says DA is based on a racially excluded SA.
UPDATE:
DA leader John Steenhuisen says that if former president Jacob Zuma’s presidency was dubbed “nine wasted years”, Cyril Ramaphosa’s president has been “five disastrous years“.
Steenhuisen says the DA is the only party that can save South Africa.
“Latest polling shows we’re just 10 percentage points behind the ANC,“ Steenhuisen says.
“The next government will either be an ANC-led coalition, or a DA-led coalition.”
UPDATE:
First on the podium is ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina who will have the opportunity to address the Sitting for 14 mins.
She says the President has placed the peoples interests at the centre of his #SONA2023.
Majodina says those Parliamentarians who stormed the podium where President Ramaphosa sat last Thursday must be dealt with. "We are not a violent nation... We know how to handle our problems," she says.
Majodina says there will be "lots of hot air" that will be blown today by opposition parties criticising the national government. But she appeals with the nation to trust the governments plans and solutions to the number of issues plaguing the country.
First on the podium is ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina who will have the opportunity to address the Sitting for 14 mins.
— Kailene Pillay (@kailenepillay) February 14, 2023
She says the President has placed the peoples interests at the centre of his #SONA2023@IOL
Sparks expected to fly in Sona debate
Sparks are expected to fly when political parties debate the State of the Nation Address delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa last Thursday.
In the debate on Tuesday, the ANC has brought in its senior leaders, including Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, Police Minister Bheki Cele and Deputy Minister of Higher Education Buti Manamela, to give details on the issues raised by Ramaphosa.
Read the full story here.
– By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
Fantasy Cabinet: Have your say on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s upcoming ministerial reshuffle
South Africans have been crying out for change. Have your say on who President Cyril Ramaphosa should appoint in ministerial positions when he reshuffles his Cabinet soon.
Read the full story here.
– By Lance Witten
President Cyril Ramaphosa declares National State of Disaster in seven provinces after flooding
The South African government has declared a National State of Disaster in seven provinces, including Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Northern Cape and North West after heavy rains continue to batter the areas.
Read the full story here.
– By Kailene Pillay