DA leader John Steenhuisen presented an alternative version of the life of “Tintswalo” in Parliament on Tuesday, the fictional character used by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
MPs are debating Ramaphosa’s 8th State of the Nation Address in Cape Town City Hall.
Steenhuisen said the ANC government had dashed the dreams of many young people since the dawn of democracy.
According to Steenhuisen, Tintswalo has never been more disillusioned by the freedom that has left her unemployed, living in a shack without water and electricity and whose father has been murdered leaving her fearing for her safety.
Steenhuisen said Tintswalo’s dreams of a better future were dented when former President Jacob Zuma used millions of rands to build a chicken coop and a fire pool at his Nkandla home and then faced rape charges.
“She must survive in the reality of what South Africa is in 2024, not in the memory of what South Africa was in 1994. When she is reminded of her hopeful childhood, it fills her with sadness for the childhood that awaits Esona.
“When she remembers how her family moved from a shack into a formal house with running water and electricity when she was a young girl, it hurts and shames her that she ended up back in a shack with no running water and constant power cuts as a grown woman.
“The memory of how excited she was at her graduation quickly turns to anger when she realises that she has now been unemployed for twice as long as it took her to obtain her qualification,” said Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen added that when ‘Tintswalo’ listened to her President on Thursday, it did not make her grateful.
“For here is the hard truth, Mr. President, whether you like it or not: you have betrayed Tintswalo’s South African dream.
Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu said the people of South Africa are where they are today because of the ANC. “We here because we are a government that cares,” she said
Zulu reminded the MPs that South Africa is in a better state than at the time of apartheid.
“Honourable chairperson let me remind the naysayers and those with self-inflicted amnesia what we inherited when we came into office there’s destruction of the family unit and communities torn apart by slave trade and migrant labour system which we still suffer today.
“Apartheid policies that impoverished individuals created special poverty traps and negatively impacted on the human capital formation of black people, in particular a fragmented social welfare system based on race, gender and geographical location welfare policies legislation and programs were inequitable and inappropriate’.
“I would like to say Mr. President, as a minister of social development it pains me to walk up and down the streets of Cape Town. You can see the number of people who are homeless. It pains me to see the DA talking so much.
“Mr. President, I would like to invite you one of the days we walk, and we see how many of our people are languishing in poverty outside on the streets of Cape Town. And I say to the people of South Africa we care even for those who are out there because they are part and parcel of ourselves. We care for this government of the Western Cape that pretends like it is taking care of our people” she said.
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