The debate on the State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa last Thursday has revealed that the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has a long way to go to cement its place as the official opposition in parliament.
This is because during the debate on Tuesday, the MKP was exposed for being too stuck on rewriting the history of its leader, Jacob Zuma, when he was the head of state.
This approach and nostalgia often make them lose touch with the reality of modern South Africa and do what they ought to do — exposing the weaknesses of the ANC/DA-led government of national unity (GNU)
While the MKP is huffing and puffing, stuck in cleansing Zuma from bad PR that clouds his days at the Union Buildings, the EFF is running away with the baton of appearing like the real official opposition.
In the debate, instead of poking holes in Ramaphosa’s Sona, the MKP elected to deliver an alternative “real Sona”, which turned out to be an inward-looking “Zuma was the best president” type of speech.
With this approach, the MKP leader in parliament, Dr John Hlophe, missed the opportunity to rip apart Ramaphosa’s speech and tell South Africans why his party would be a better government.
Hlophe appears out of depth
Better yet, Hlophe could have sold MKP’s vision for the country to position the party as the better option to be a GNU partner of the ANC should their frosty relationship with the DA someday go bust.
He failed to do that and just appears out of depth every time he takes to the podium in parliament, so some might be correct to suggest that maybe he was just never cut out for mainstream politics.
While the MKP is failing to see the prime position it is in as the official opposition after the DA chose to join the government, the EFF is taking full advantage.
The EFF leader, Julius Malema, did what Hlophe ought to have done by painting the president’s speech as just another list of empty promises.
Malema did this tactfully by exposing all of Ramaphosa’s previous promises, from bullet trains to smart cities, that have never materialised.
With this approach, he was effectively saying why should the promises made in this year’s Sona be viewed any differently.
In this regard, he specifically highlighted the more than R900-billion infrastructure development plan for the next three years.
But Malema’s high bar was to be raised beyond reach by Naledi Chirwa later on during the debate when the EFF MP hammered the home run.
Ramaphosa’s failures exposed
Chirwa continued where her party leader had left off by exposing the failures of the incumbent head of state.
But she went further by telling Ramaphosa what his government ought to do.
If that was not enough, Chirwa went for the jugular to state what an EFF government would do when in power that is not being done by the GNU grouping led by Ramaphosa.
And on that high note, with a fitting tone that screams “listen to me”, Chirwa was the star of the day, and so was her party — the EFF.
Even the leader of the African Transformation Movement, Vuyo Zungula, whose party has two seats in parliament, fared better than the MKP, which has a numerical advantage of 58 seats.
So far, the numerical advantage that the MKP enjoys has not translated to quality output, especially in joint sittings, which are crucial moments, for that is the only time that even the most ignorant people follow parliament proceedings.
That is the only moment to capture the imagination of the electorate and sell your party to the electorate, but so far, the MKP is sleeping on the job.
Perhaps understandably so because of the lack of experience in space by the majority of its MPs.
Even those MKP MPs who have served in other arms of the state, like Hlophe in the judiciary, seem paralysed to rise to the occasion when it matters the most in their new trade.
And the Progressive Caucus, which by all indications is dead in the water, was going to be of great help to the MKP newcomers.
Breaking away from bad habits
But in all fairness, it has barely been a year that the MKP has been in parliament.
However, if the party is to become an effective and attractive opposition, it must unlearn certain bad habits, chiefly abandoning the strategy of making everything about Zuma and the desperation to rewrite his history as the head of state.
The Zuma years have long passed, and the numbers are there to attest to his contribution; it does not need rubber-stamping seven years after his departure from Union Buildings.
Also, the temptation to almost pretend that Zuma’s presidency was perfect is going to exhaust the potential voters of the MKP; it has the hallmarks of a cult, and people want to hear about the present and the future, not some highly contested history that will not put bread on the table.
In their own political rallies, of which they have many in their many court appearances, they can sing Zuma praises all they want.
But parliament is a different terrain altogether.
Learning from the EFF, which also took time to get it right after its heckling stunts did not achieve anything, would also not hurt.
