It is said that Benjamin Franklin, on leaving the constitutional convention of 1787, told a passerby that the Framers of the US constitution had produced “a republic, if you can keep it”.
No doubt as President Ramaphosa comes to Parliament on Thursday he will invoke the memory of Madiba and the moment in history when it seemed that through Madiba’s sheer moral force, everything was possible.The mood is far from the upbeat ‘Thuma mina!’ speech he made as he took office in 2018. Today much of the enthusiasm has dissipated and there is an urgent sense that there has been enough talk.
In his June post-election State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa went on to present seven areas of focus instead of five - and within those there were five fundamental goals to be achieved in the next 10 years. The laundry list is not helpful. What is needed is an honest rendering of our challenges and why we are in the situation we are in?
judith_february