WHERE IS THE ROAD MAP, WHERE IS THE ELECTRIC CAR? Analyst
President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Monday delivered a 70-page State of the Nation Address (SONA), which took more than two hours.
Although he mentioned issues of Global Economic Outlook, Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan in his address, it still received mixed reactions across the nation. The Voice Staffer, DANIEL CHIDA speaks to Political Analysts to get their views.
Motsumi Marobela
There is nothing fundamentally new from what was said by the President in his address before.
There is no vision and transformation agenda. Masisi has never provided his road map except making promises but again in those promises he has failed to give us an update on things he said.
Where is the electric car and employment creation? People have lost jobs, and the economy is going down and what is needed is someone who can give people hope.
The bargaining council is not working and frustrated civil servants cannot strike or hold demonstrations.
His road map is needed urgently as people want to know the direction he is taking us to. Before elections he promised to fight corruption but we see people who were once accused going scot-free and some getting their assets back.
This makes people to doubt his credibility as they had a believed that indeed the president was fighting corruption.
People wanted to see a different regime from that of the former President Ian Khama but its now worse.
He is busy flying around to distribute Billy goats instead of delegating District Commissioners to do that.
We are spending a lot of money flying when in fact a truck could be used instead to ferry the goats to their various destinations.
This takes back us back to his vision, which it has become clear he doesn’t have. We do appreciate the efforts he is making to help the tourism and Agricultural sector but it is not enough because we have not opened for local tourism yet.
Why are people still locked within zones when we are opening for foreigners? We are not going to depend on foreign tourism forever.
Our reserves are going down and I see more crises coming our way. The first lockdown was not necessary since we had only three suspected cases but now we have exhausted our resources.
Keaoleboga Dipogiso
Masisi gave a good account of what bothers the nation currently since the last SONA but I think there is a serious lack of accountability in terms of the promises made in the past and going forward.
There is a culture that government has created that you do not account on the promises you have given.
What happened to Citizen Economic Empowerment Act, which we were promised? Where is Constitutional Review?
We know it is not an easy process but we need an update. He didn’t give us an update on what has been achieved in the fight against corruption.
We also expected him to outline the employment opportunities and a new progressives curriculum.
Our graduates cannot be absorbed by the employment system because of the old system.
Mokaloba Mokaloba
Great leaders are made and destroyed by tough times and indeed we are in tough times.
For the first time I saw a President who is committed to targets especially with SPEDU, Constitutional Review, Youth Unemployment and Agriculture.
Agriculture is being taken seriously by the current regime. However, we had only few positives from his address and it is unfortunate that in some issues government does not want to commit to deadlines and timelines.
There have been promises and projections without delivery while unemployment is high. He has to tell us his plans on Economic Diversification since diamonds are not selling during COVID 19.
Tourism is on its knees as it has been the most affected by the pandemic.
There has been no supportive initiative for informal sector with government giving attention to white collar jobs.
The mistake that government is making is to treat COVID 19 as if it is going away soon, it is here to stay and we should be coming or putting measures in place that can accommodate that.