Members of civil society organizations gathered outside St George's Cathedral in Cape Town say the country's reality is full of failures at every level. Activists highlight youth unemployment, violent crime and inadequate service delivery as continuing challenges facing communities.
The protests were held ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Union Address (SONA) on Thursday. They host what they call the People's SONA, appealing to the sentiment that South Africans are suffering from corruption, unemployment, crime and poverty, among other things.
The group dismissed SONA as a narrative designed to control what it claims are the many crises facing the country.
“This is an election year so he will go on and on about how well they did during their term, but if you are a person in the field who has to survive on R350, it is a completely different story. That prices have fallen. When you buy food in the store, it's out of people's reach, they don't even have access to the same SRD subsidy, and millions of people are excluded,” says Lindy of Cry of the xcluded.・Mukumbane says:
“South Africa is incredibly dangerous, and has been for a long time. Our women are exposed to incredible violence today. Gender-based violence is worse than anywhere else in the world. “Here alone, we're at unprecedented levels,” says Joel Stephens of the Cape Youth Collective.
“We young people don't have jobs, we sit at home doing nothing. Children are into gangs, people want jobs, better homes, people's food, and food is getting expensive. '' says Mishka Samuels, also of Cry of the Excluded.
The group argues that South Africa needs a strong civil society to find solutions for the future.