President Cyril Ramaohosa will deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday (8 February) at 19h00, where analysts, political opponents and business leaders don’t hold out much hope for anything of substance to materialise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given that 2024 is an election year, South Africa will be subject to not one but two SONAs, with a second national address to be delivered by the next president of the country (likely to be Ramaphosa again) after the national vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of this setup, Ramaphosa’s February SONA is likely to be dominated by the president taking stock of the work his administration has done over the last five years, leaving the announcement of new initiatives and measures to tackle South Africa’s various crises to the second speech later in the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As with previous SONAs, analysts anticipate inflated successes and empty promises from the president – with a mix of subtle election campaigning for the ANC – but there are key topics that are likely to stick out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are the key things to watch out for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Election date<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ramaphosa proclaimed the date for the 2019 elections in a state-of-the-nation address and may do the same this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, his spokesman said an announcement would be made within 15 days. Once that happens, the date will be published in the Government Gazette, and the voters\u2019 roll will close. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The vote must take place by August, and several opinion polls show that the ruling African National Congress risks losing its national majority for the first time since it took power under Nelson Mandela in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Income grants<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s been a tug-of-war within the government over whether a temporary R350 rand monthly stipend introduced to cushion the unemployed against the fallout from the coronavirus should be made permanent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The National Treasury has called for a comprehensive review of the entire welfare system and warned that the income grants are unsustainable unless new sources of revenue are found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the ANC insists that an extension to the stipends is non-negotiable. Ramaphosa told a party meeting last month that there is \u201ca strong case for a permanent form of a targeted income-support grant for the unemployed within our fiscal constraints.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n If he does pronounce on the matter, it will likely fall to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to spell out where the money will come from when he delivers his annual budget on 21 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n