Nearly two years into the Covid-19 pandemic era, South Africans are looking forward to President Cyril Ramaphosa giving them some hope when he delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the Cape Town City Hall on Thursday night.
The city hall will be an unfamiliar setting for the President who will lay out his government’s roadmap when he delivers his SONA speech outside of the parliament precinct for the first time in the history of South Africa.
This is after the parliament building was gutted in a devastating fire in January in an alleged arson attack.
The SONA is an annual message delivered by the president to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament – the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.
Ramaphosa is expected to address a raft of challenges that the country grappled with over the past year, and how his government went about tackling them.
These include the challenges of unemployment, inequality, power cuts and corruption.
But most importantly, responses to the challenges that await the country in the coming year are what South Africans will keep their ears glued to as Ramaphosa delivers his address.
NM/jn/APA