President Cyril Ramaphosa replies to the debate on his State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The reply follows a two day debate on the SONA by MPs. Siyabulela Duda/ GCIS
IN AN apparent swipe at Government of National Unity (GNU) partners, the DA, President Cyril Ramaphosa drew a line in the sand, saying no law binds him to negotiation with parties before signing a bill into an act.
“The Constitution does not permit that the act of assent by the President be subject to negotiation or to the terms of an agreement between parties. The President must ultimately make a determination in line with the Constitution,” he said Thursday in his reply to the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate.
The DA, which is part of the GNU, has been unhappy over Ramaphosa’s decision to sign into law the National Health Insurance, Basic Education Laws Amendment and Expropriation bills. So unhappy was DA leader John Steenhuisen that he lodged a dispute within the GNU while this week his party filed court papers challenging the constitutionality of the Expropriation Act.
Addressing MPs, Ramaphosa attempted to paint a picture of a united GNU, saying: “It is to be expected that the 10 political parties that make up the GNU, with their very different political and ideological perspectives, will not always agree and will sometimes feel the need on platforms such as this to talk to their different constituencies.”
Ramaphosa said the progress the country had made was not due to individuals.
He also took a dig at the DA ministers for claiming that the progress being made and the reforms were of their own making.
“We nevertheless welcome the fact that they have embraced these initiatives and are working to ensure they succeed whether they claim to be the mothers or fathers of this.
“This progress is owned by the people of South Africa. It is not owned by any individual. Even the great Nelson Mandela, the father of our democracy and the nation, never for one minute claimed he had freed the people of South Africa.”
This was in reference to the MK Party, which claimed many successes of the government had been made during the tenure of former president Jacob Zuma.
The signing of the Expropriation bill into an act has also ruffled feathers with the US, with that country’s President Donald Trump responding to it by cutting aid funding to South Africa.
Ramaphosa said South Africans should not allow others to define or divide them.
“In times like this we need to stand united as a nation, particularly now when we are facing harsh global winds.
“We will not be diverted from the path that we have set out. I would like to repeat that we will not be bullied by anyone in the country or outside from our intent to work together,” he said.
Ramaphosa said it was not the time for anyone to rush off to foreign lands to lay complaints about issues that could be solved in the country.
“We need South African solutions to South African problems,” he said.
Cape Times