The Nation We Want

The below speech was delivered by Bridget Masango MP during today’s State of the Nation Address Debate:

Honourable Chairperson,

This year the President’s State of the nation address was different, encouraging, and inspired hope. Not because he said anything new, or because lives of poor and vulnerable South Africans have changed much. But because of the key players in what the President called “the nation we want”. Because the nation we want is underpinned by a vibrant growth and jobs agenda that will lift people out of poverty.

The players I refer to are GNU Ministers and Deputy Ministers. Several of the programmes the President articulated were taken right out of the Democratic Alliance’s election campaigns over the years – the Growth and Jobs Agenda.

The high cost of living is an especially brutal reality for South Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens, many of whom receive their social grants from the Postbank and struggle to access it every month due to the needlessly difficult switch from SASSA gold cards to Postbank black cards by the end of the month.

The average South African worker has to spend more than 57% of their monthly income on transport and electricity while underspending on food. Last year, 1 457 children younger than 5 years died in South Africa’s public hospitals due to acute malnutrition.

But the DA has the solution. We have always focused on job security and the prosperity it brings. We want to grow the economy to lift the 28 million SASSA grant recipients out of their reliance on social assistance. Our economic policy will give them the dignity and the freedom that comes with a stable income and private property ownership.

By enhancing the ease of doing business, between 350 000 and 400 000 new jobs could be created in the first full year after implementation.

Fiscal policy reforms, such as a fiscal rule within the current expenditure framework, could create a further 350 000 to 450 000 jobs. Transforming the SRD grant into a Job Seekers Grant is another essential brick in building an economy that attracts essential investment and fosters a labour-friendly environment that promotes job creation. In fact, between the DA’s Ease of Doing Business, Fiscal, Labour, Industrial, and Trade policies, there is the potential of between 1.9 and 2.5 million jobs over 5 years. That is the “DA Difference”.

This is why the Democratic Alliance joined this Government of National Unity, because the alternative is a terrifying one. Imagine a South Africa where the DA doesn’t show up to hold the executive to account, where we are left to the mercy of the anti-constitutionalist agenda, where the government cares more about ideology than the money in your pocket, the roof over your head, and the job you go to every morning.

In order to grow the economy, we must involve as many of our citizens as possible, including those that are often marginalised. That’s why the President’s inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream economy is welcomed as it recognises the value being added by them in the broader job creation and economic growth space.

The DA’s role as key coalition partner in the GNU is already moving the needle towards economic growth and its value for all South African citizens.

The ingenuity and foresight to form the Government of National Unity is what South Africa desperately needed. The “Unity” in the GNU is what will ensure progress and prosperity and as South Africans we are excited to witness this most welcome change. We encourage Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and their dedicated teams to focus on their work and we stand ready to support them in whatever way possible – South Africans, especially the poor and vulnerable – deserve no less.

Thank you.