John Hlophe, the leader of the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party in Parliament, says President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address on the opening of Parliament was ‘appalling’.
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Hlophe, a former Western Cape judge, expressed criticism over Ramaphosa’s address, saying it was ‘very clear’ that he did not prepare the speech himself. ‘If anything, it is the parties in the GNU, my guess is that it was prepared by DA members.’
He adds that it was ‘all about pleasing the GNU parties, particularly the Democratic Alliance (DA)’, stating it was the ‘white members’ applauding despite there being ‘untruths’ in the president’s speech.
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‘There is so much lies contained in the speech. I regard the president as a serious liar, a serious-minded liar. Firstly, he says his government, the ANC that he leads has created more than two million jobs, we are South Africans we know he is lying. That is not true. If anything, the rate of unemployment in this country is almost 35% now. So, we have lost more jobs than we have created,’ he noted.
‘The speech didn’t address critical issues like the issue of Palestine. We know why he is not addressing that. It is because the DA is watching him in the GNU. He can’t address it because the policies differ in respect of Palestine. So the speech was empty in that regard.’
However, IOL reports that DA leader John Steenhuisen (now Minister of Agriculture) believes the GNU members are open to negotiations and would ‘find each other’ on controversial issues such as the National Health Insurance (NHI).
‘I do not think that any party to the GNU does not believe that we need to have universal access to basic healthcare for every South African regardless of their economic status,’ he said in response to Ramaphosa’s address.
‘The differences of opinion [are] on the best way to achieve this, how to fund it and whether you need to remove the choice for citizens around the private healthcare sector as well.
‘I think that we can find each other. I think there is a commitment by the president, both in the Cabinet lekgotla and again tonight, that we will consult each other, we will consult industry players to try and find a way in which we can achieve the goal that we all want – universal access to basic healthcare for all South Africans regardless of their economic status.’
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