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State of the nation debate: MPs are ‘ready to deal with delinquents’

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16 February 2018, Julius Malema leaves Parliament after the state of the nation address. Picture: Adrian de Kock
16 February 2018, Julius Malema leaves Parliament after the state of the nation address. Picture: Adrian de Kock

Land restitution without compensation, corruption and the youth unemployment. These were some of the major topics which were debated in Parliament on Monday morning, as political parties were given the opportunity to respond to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address, which was delivered on Friday night.

In a bid to outline some of the key issues which the country faces, ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu opened the debate by aligning the ANC’s support towards Ramaphosa by “continuing the vision of Madiba to building a South Africa of our dreams”.

“We publically say to the people of South Africa as ANC caucus, we are ready, thuma thina [send us].”

Mthembu called on Parliament to end the widespread corruption which has resulted in public funds being lost every year.

“A total of R127,979 billion in irregular expenditure was uncovered by the Auditor-General from 2013, 2014 to the 2016/17 financial years. The money wasted by careless and corrupt people on government could have funded higher education for the poor.”

During Friday’s address, Ramaphosa affirmed his commitment to rooting out corruption.

“This is the year in which we will turn the tide of corruption in our public institutions. The criminal justice institutions have been taking initiatives that will enable us to deal effectively with corruption. The commission of inquiry into state capture headed by the Deputy Chief Justice, Judge Raymond Zondo, is expected to commence its work shortly,” Ramaphosa said on Friday.

Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said today that Ramaphosa had inherited a corrupt state and had a great challenge ahead.

“He has inherited a broken and corrupt state that has been captured to serve the interests of a few at the expense of the many.”

He also said how proud he was to applaud Ramaphosa on Friday night, as he delivered his address.

“On Friday night, we all stood up to applaud the president after his state of the nation address. And I’ll be honest with you, it felt good. It felt good to be a member of this august House, with its dignity restored. It felt good to be a member of the opposition, knowing that our efforts over the last decade have not been in vain. Most of all, it felt good to be a South African,” Maimane said.

Ramaphosa made mention of the priority to decrease youth unemployment on Friday.

“One of the initiatives will be to convene a Jobs Summit within the next few months to align the efforts of every sector and every stakeholder behind the imperative of job creation,” Ramaphosa said.

Maimane said today that while the DA supported the initiative, it needed to start by “making it easier for young people to access jobs by confronting the nepotism, bribery and corruption that stands in their way.”

Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu received the most backlash, after she commented that SABC news anchor Peter Ndoro had lost his job after mistaking the president for former Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai during a live broadcast when he said “with the passing of Cyril Ramaphosa”. Tsvangirai had in fact passed away.

Comments started flying in the gallery, with some telling Sisulu that she was “a joke”.

National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete interrupted Sisulu to say that there was a lot of confusion surrounding Ndoro and that nothing had been confirmed, to which Sisulu apologised.

“I am so sorry. I was conveying to the president our concern that we as the ruling party have kept the media on their toes and maybe have done them harm and that the president needs to indicate that he has not been killed,” Sisulu responded.

The EFF’s Julius Malema also affirmed his support towards Ramaphosa’s presidency, and spoke about unity, but warned South Africans that the ANC was still the ruling party, that anything can happen and that the people “should be careful”.

He congratulated Ramaphosa, saying that when he was elected in the “illegitimate” Parliament, he was not present.

“The majority of this Parliament have agreed that they must proceed with business as usual. I want to state very clearly on behalf of the EFF that we are willing to give you a chance, as the president of the republic of South Africa, as head of state and government,” Malema said.

Ramaphosa nodded in acknowledgment at Malema’s statement.

Malema continued to say that Ramaphosa had not been found guilty of being a “constitutional delinquent, because we do not entertain delinquents. We deal with delinquents decisively”.

The second sitting of the debate continues this afternoon.


Avantika Seeth
Multimedia journalist
City Press
p:+27 11 713 9001
w:www.citypress.co.za  e: avantika.seeth@citypress.co.za
      
 
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