Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane decries the state of the nation during the debate on President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address.
Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane used the State of the Nation address (Sona) debate as a platform to outline his party’s plans for the country should the DA govern, bashing President Jacob Zuma, his administration and the ANC in the process.
Maimane said on Tuesday that all the ANC cared about was power and getting rich and has stopped caring about the country’s citizens.
“The ANC has turned from liberator of the people to the enemy of the people.”
He also bemoaned the high level of security and increased road closures that were part of Zuma’s address on Thursday.
A glimpse of the future
“There were soldiers with automatic rifles pacing up and down Parliament Avenue. This wasn’t the state of the nation. It was the state against the nation. The ANC on the one side and the people on the other. The liberator turned oppressor,” he said.
On Thursday South Africans were given a glimpse of the future under the ANC, and it looked very much like the country’s painful past.
“The police in riot gear. The deployment of the army. The screams of female members of Parliament as they were punched and kicked. A boot stamping on a human face.”
He said the country will never forget what happened at Sona.
Nor will it forget Zuma’s reaction. “We will never forget how he laughed. It was the laugh of an enemy of the people.”
Maimane again outlined his party’s plans for the “lost generation”, who he said were forgotten by the ANC.
Young people first
Maimane also said Zuma’s address did not bring anything new.
“On Thursday we heard about the same old failed nine-point plan, sprinkled with a bit of stop-gap populism like land expropriation, talk of a state-owned mining house and threatening the banking sector.”
He called for the country to look to a better future, before embarking on an address reminiscent of his campaign speeches describing a country where young people had a future.
“We will build a lean, efficient state tasked with creating opportunities for people, instead of the bloated, corrupt state that is only dragging us backwards. The South Africa we are building will put these young people first.” – News24