STEVEN FRIEDMAN|
EVERY year in February South Africa’s president delivers a state of the nation address. One theme which is never addressed is the state of the nation.
The address, given this year by President Cyril Ramaphosa, marks the opening of parliament. Every year, it is treated with expectation way out of line with its importance and is followed by loud disappointment.
No talk could possibly live up to the hype which envelops it and, despite the name, it is actually an outline of the government’s plans for the year.
This is rarely exciting, particularly in a country in which everything the government says in the national debate is dismissed as ‘empty words’ by opposition parties and much of the media (as this year’s address has been). This is not true of voters, most of whom support the governing African National Congress (ANC).
But what would a real state
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