SONA2024: New Strategies Or Same Broken Record?

As is tradition on the first Thursday of February each year, President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the State of the Nation Address (SoNA) tonight at 7pm.

Unlike most years, this SONA is most anticipated as it comes ahead of the 8th general elections.

The Soul City Institute is concerned about our governments’ preparedness for the upcoming elections, seeing that a date has not yet been announced. We wait with bated breath today, to hear the presidents’ intentions for this election season.

It is not hard to imagine how apathetic most young people feel about voting, considering the continued rise in the number of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases, unemployment and corruption. The rate of teenage pregnancies is increasing, and this is a cause for concern, particularly for access to reproductive health services and the ability for pregnant teens to stay in school. It has become a norm to hear these cases, but not much is being done to address the causes and ensure that justice prevails.

While we are certain that the president is aware of these and many other social issues faced by South African youth, we fear that the culture of victim blaming, perpetuated by the patriarchy is limiting our collective ability to achieve equality and equity.

As an intersectional organisation, we have been pleading for a more proactive and comprehensive response to GBV, but ours and the efforts of fellow civil society movements land on deaf ears.

Reflecting on the role of political parties in addressing the scourge, our 16 Days of Activism campaign in 2023 focused on calling on parties to make a commitment to prioritise the implementation of the National Strategic Plan for GBV and Femicide in their manifestos.

The marriage between our #KgalemelangGBV365 and #YVote4U campaigns is rooted in the intersectionality of politics and the issues faced by marginalised groups in the country. We find that it is important to ensure that GBVF does not become a backdrop of the elections, and hope that the president will finally head the call for accountability.

Tonight, as we take our seats to listen to the acclaimed address, we look forward to hearing new strategies and not a repeat of the same broken record.