Cyril Ramaphosa has conceded that the economic reconstruction and recovery plan he presented to parliament last week “may not sound new”, but “political grandstanding” on it was unwarranted.
In a spirited defence of his widely criticised plan, Ramaphosa said opposition party leaders and MPs needed to decide if they wanted to see the country remaining in a “state of paralysis” or to rally behind his efforts to pull the economy out of the ravages of Covid-19.
Ramaphosa was addressing a hybrid sitting of parliament on Wednesday as he closed a debate by MPs from the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces after his presentation of the economic recovery plan.
Opposition parties have overwhelmingly rejected Ramaphosa’s plan, which includes spending more than R100bn to create 800,000 public sector job opportunities in the next years, as nothing new and the recycling of old ideas.
Ramaphosa’s economic plan would also see municipalities and companies being allowed to generate their own electricity, relieving pressure on Eskom and helping businesses escape the burden of load-shedding.
Leading the charge was DA interim leader John Steenhuisen, who said that while the DA welcomed Ramaphosa’s decision to extend the R350 Covid-19 social grant by a further three months, there was very little exciting in Ramaphosa’s latest economic blueprint.
“It’s a wish list of worthy intentions. This is a letter to Santa,” said Steenhuisen. “There were some good points. The auctioning of spectrum to bring down data costs is one of them but this should have happened a long time ago, and this is not the first time it’s been promised. Make it happen.
“Similarly, reforms to Eskom and the opening of the energy market to more independent producers are long overdue. You’ve listed this in your plan; now make it happen.”