JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will Thursday outline how his government will tackle the country's pressing problems including corruption, nationwide power cuts, high unemployment, a troubled economy and the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramaphosa will deliver his State of the Nation address at Cape Town City Hall instead of at the Parliament building which was gutted by fire last month. It will be the first time since South Africa's achievement of democracy in 1994 that the address will be delivered outside the 138-year-old Parliament building.
Ramaphosa is also expected to respond to a damning report that described his administration's failures to contain violent riots which broke out in July after the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma.
More than 300 people were killed when shopping centers and warehouses were looted after Zuma went to prison for defying a court order to testify at a commission of inquiry investigating graft allegations during his tenure as president from 2009 to 2018.
Ramaphosa's speech comes as his party, the ruling African National Congress, is bitterly divided between those who support him and his efforts to root out corruption and those who continue to back Zuma.
Cape Town City Hall has been cleaned up for the glamorous event attended by politicians, business leaders, celebrities and sports stars.
The City Hall is no stranger to hosting significant events in South Africa's history. In 1990 it was where Nelson Mandela delivered his first speech after being released from 27 years in prison for his fight against the racial oppression of the apartheid system of white-minority rule.
That historic moment has been immortalized with a statue of Mandela on a balcony of the building where he delivered the speech.
On that day, Ramaphosa held the microphone while Mandela spoke, but Thursday he will speaking himself to describe how his administration will address some of the country’s most pressing challenges.
Following the fire which destroyed large parts of the Parliament building, including the National Assembly chamber, one suspect, 49-year-old Zandile Mafe, is to stand trial on arson and terrorism charges after he was arrested outside the complex.
Mogomotsi Magome, The Associated Press
