'This will be Ramaphosa's last SONA address' - opposition predicts

NATIONAL Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams stated he had low expectations for the State of the Nation Address when he was interviewed on the red carpet outside Cape Town City Hall on Thursday. 

The latter will provide a country roadmap charting the way forward for South Africa in what one could call a mixed bag of domestic and global circumstances. Thursday night marks the first SONA to be delivered under the seventh administration’s Government of National Unity (GNU) following the outcomes of the historic 29 May 2024 elections.

As the President fine-tunes his notes before delivering the speech, the government continues to face criticism in responding to the challenges of poverty, inequality, unemployment and illegal mining, among others.

Adams said at the last SONA, that President Cyril Ramaphosa included the Democratic Alliance in his Government of National Unity, claiming this was intended to move the country forward. 

However, the DA has opposed every progressive bill, including the Bela Bill, Land Expropriation, and even the National Health Insurance (NHI). 

"Every initiative aimed at lifting our poor citizens out of poverty has faced resistance from the DA, yet the president claims to act in our best interests. 

"We don’t expect anything from him tonight."

Adams predicted that Thursday night's address would mark the end of Ramaphosa and his Government of National Unity.

"This might be his last SONA. So we are here out of respect. Maybe this Sona tonight is the euthanisation of Rampahosa and his GNU."

Meanwhile, the MK Party slammed SONA as a “ fake” event.

MK party parliamentary chief whip Mzwanele Manyi told SABC that Former president Jacob Zuma would not attend SONA because it coincided with a court matter.

Manyi said: “He is not going to miss anything. It is going to be a fake address anyway.”

 ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba issued a statement with his alternative Sona address.

He said:  “For years, SONA has been nothing more than a grand production filled with distractions, illusions, and lies repeated year after year.

"South Africans are tired of being lied to!"