<\/p>\n
\u201cHugely disappointing\u201d and \u201cnot inspiring\u201d.<\/p>\n
That was how MK Party leader Dr John Hlophe described President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s State of the Nation Address (SONA).<\/p>\n
Speaking outside the Cape Town City Hall following the president\u2019s address, Hlophe said the president identified three priorities – poverty, inequality and housing.<\/p>\n
However, he did not deal with those priorities at length, Hlophe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know poverty is worse than ever it was before.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day, when you walk in South Africa, at a robot-controlled intersection, you see a lot of people who are hungry, who are homeless, who have nowhere to stay. So poverty is worse than it ever was before. Mr Ramaphosa made no mention of that,\u201d Hlophe said.<\/p>\n
He said Ramaphosa was talking about an ideal nation, a united South Africa, united in diversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo attempts whatsoever are being made by the government of Cyril Ramaphosa to eradicate racism. It\u2019s 30 years in the making,\u201d Hlophe criticised.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the black people who are the victims of racism in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hlophe also said Ramaphosa did not talk about the land issue which was critical in addressing poverty and inequality.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo him, obviously, that\u2019s a non-issue,\u201d Hlophe stated.<\/p>\n
He said last year, in the SONA, Ramaphosa said 25% of the land has been brought back to black people as part of the land redistribution program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not true. One point nine percent of the land is in private hands, that includes Phala Phala.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hlophe said central to uMkhonto weSizwe is the question of land.<\/p>\n
\u201cLand is central to us. It is critical,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that the Expropriation Act is very deceitful to the extent that it creates an impression that land can be expropriated without compensation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou only have to read the Act very carefully. There is no such thing as expropriation of land without compensation, as long as you have Section 25 of the Constitution, that\u2019s where the problem is,\u201d Hlophe said.<\/p>\n
thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za <\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHugely disappointing\u201d and \u201cnot inspiring\u201d. That was how MK Party leader Dr John Hlophe described President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s State of the Nation Address (SONA). Speaking outside the Cape Town City Hall following the president\u2019s address, Hlophe said the president identified three priorities – poverty, inequality and housing. However, he did not deal with those priorities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1838,7807,2277,4019,15963,17598,446],"class_list":["post-231073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-address","tag-hlophe","tag-issues","tag-key","tag-party039s","tag-ramaphosafails","tag-sona"],"yoast_head":"\n