South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was presenting the new parliamentary session on thursday 18th of July in the evening . This occasion was a major address to the newly elected deputies of the Democratic parliament who assembled with the general elections in May This speech was particularly expected as unlike the previous administrations where the president addressed the nation but this time his speech was on the anniversary of those political parties that came up with the National Unity Government which comprises of ten political parties.
For now, the crisis is dormant among the members of the coalition partners, many issues considered to be provocative not addressed. For instance, the speaker did not highlights cultural relations, Russia, or Gaza Strip in his entire speech.
President Ramaphosa gave a reconciliatory and unremarkable speech s which signaled that a lot of contentious matters had not transpired. He went on to say that they are in unison on several documents and at the same time there are documents that require concerted efforts to arrive at a common ground.
One major contested area that the parties will need to agree on is on health which has been an thorny issue in the past where the Democratic Alliance, the former official opposition party and the major coalition partner had criticized the government on Universal Health Coverage.
However, members of the Democratic Alliance did not criticise or contribute to social media posts after his speech as it marked a new era, unlike Julius Malema, the leader of the opposition party EFF. Malema said in response: “The Whites particularly the members of the DA should be the happiest people in this Parliament as they are the main gainers in this sellout National Unity Government. ” He went further to predict that the party would fold within a year or two.