President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering his State of the Nation address (SONA) on 13 February 2020. Image via Twitter: @ParliamentofRSA
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering his State of the Nation address (SONA) on 13 February 2020. Image via Twitter: @ParliamentofRSA
President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to address the chaos that surrounded his SONA speech seven days ago, and he wasted little time in making big, sweeping statements about topical matters on Thursday. He kicked off his reply to the debate in some style, and issued a stinging barb towards former President FW de Klerk.
FW de Klerk blasted by Cyril Ramaphosa
The last leader of the apartheid regime was forced to make an apology recently, a few days after he denied that apartheid “was a crime against humanity”. He was roundly lambasted, and his comments made him the unwanted centre of attention when he arrived at Parliament las week.
The EFF staunchly protested his presence in the house, blaming the ANC for pacifying someone who had been part of a cruel regime that oppressed black South Africans. As the ruling party squirmed to defend FW de Klerk’s invite, the whole affair put them in a very awkward position.
Ramaphosa on apartheid being a crime against humanity “(it) was so immoral in its conception and so devastating in its execution that there no South African today that it is not touched by it’s legacy. I would even go as far as to say to deny this, is treasonous,” Ramaphosa says
— POWER987News (@POWER987News) February 20, 2020
‘Treasonous’ comments pinned on FW de Klerk
On Thursday, Cyril Ramaphosa came out with a clear message for the former National Party leader, and warned him that the denial of apartheid brutality was a “treasonous” thing to do.
“It cannot be again said that apartheid was not a crime against humanity. It was a crime against oppressed people in South Africa, even so before it was declared by the United Nations, who are made up people from all across the world. They can’t be hoodwinked… I would go as far as to say that denying this is treasonous”
Cyril Ramaphosa on the FW de Klerk matter
#SONADebate | Ramaphosa says one cannot deny that apartheid was a crime against humanity. pic.twitter.com/4PxPiZePqC
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) February 20, 2020
Ramaphosa apologises for Parliamentary chaos
Of course, the atmosphere in the house has been fractious for the best part of the week. But things truly reached boiling point on Tuesday after Julius Malema accused Cyril Ramaphosa of abusing his ex-wife. The EFF were ejected once more from Parliament, and the president apologised to the nation for the unsavoury exchanges:
“The issue of gender-based violence (GBV) was used for political point-scoring. The matter was trivialised and it undermining any undertaking of actions to stop the violence. We shouldn’t allow for such an important issue to be used like this… I apologise to all South Africans for the manner this matter was debated.”
Cyril Ramaphosa
