YACOOB ABBA OMAR: All I want for Sona is a boring speech

Give me a boring speech. This is my request to President Cyril Ramaphosa as he prepares to speak to the nation in his eighth opening of parliament speech, known as the state of the nation address (Sona).

If he does give a boring speech he will no doubt have to deal with a chorus of opposition voices complaining that his speech did not offer anything new, or that it is just a reflection of past commitments.

But a boring speech will be one that deals concretely with the challenges facing our country, one that addresses the three critical Es: employment, economy and energy.

Ramaphosa must convincingly show us that the disruptions we all experience in power supply are slowly but inexorably moving to a situation when we can depend on stability and continuity. He has much material to draw from, as his government has taken steps to expand power supply and address the crisis in the logistics value chain, especially with private sector initiatives and the greater use of renewable energy sources. He will have to show how this will be helping us grow the economy and increase employment.

Then there is the clutch of Cs we need to be convinced are being addressed with all the required attention — crime, corruption and climate change. The poorest of our citizens experience the brunt of the dramatic changes in climate through flooding or food inflation. Egged on by unscrupulous elements of society, and law enforcement agencies that turn a blind eye, informal settlements are often built in flood-prone areas.

The just transition to a low-carbon future is becoming even more urgent as humanity is confronted with climate change. Again, it is the most vulnerable in society who will be most directly affected by the transition — hence the need for reskilling and maintaining the social net to mitigate the effect of job losses.

Under Ramaphosa’s stewardship SA has been walking the tightrope between managing this transition and utilising our comparative advantage of being blessed with an abundance of coal — especially given the increase in European demand.

US historian Will Durant famously wrote that “the health of a nation is more important than the wealth of nations”, an adage to be kept in mind when the president spells out the next few steps on the road to National Health Insurance.

Ramaphosa will also need to reflect on the context. One of these is indicating how the nation should move forward after the release of the Human Rights Commission’s report on its investigation into the July 2021 riots.

“Unresolved systemic conditions like post-Covid-19 economic recovery, high unemployment and socioeconomic divides” — as highlighted by the commission — will require a programme of responses, at the core of which must lie that deepest of all divides in SA — addressing the racial divide.

Ramaphosa will also need to indicate how the country will manage the fallout after the principled position SA took at the International Court of Justice. The vitriol our country, government and the legal team itself have been subjected to is an indication of the vindictiveness we will face, notwithstanding that an eminent bench of judges almost unanimously supported a position that has been echoed and supported by millions of people across the world, people who embrace us for our stance.

The final key element that Ramaphosa needs to address is calls for secession in some parts of the country. This represents not only an unfortunate attempt to break up the united SA the founders of our rainbow nation fought for, but is a foolhardy move typical of regions in different parts of the world that think because they are better off they can set up their own states or create a racial or tribal laager.

Here’s hoping that in his usual measured, balanced and modest way Ramaphosa rallies all of us around his signature call of thuma mina since these challenges require all of our efforts.

• Abba Omar is director of operations at the Mapungubwe Institute.