There will be no double-speak and ministers will have to reel in the bling and blue lights. President Cyril Ramaphosa has stamped his authority on his administration while delivering his budget vote address in Parliament. The president says the state has not been functioning optimally, and the silo-mentality has to end.

Ramaphosa has admitted that the government used the wrong approach in efforts to develop communities and said plans are in place to change the issue. He said the development will be done in a more comprehensive and inclusive manner.

The president stated his predecessor’s (Jacob Zuma) frequent cabinet reshuffles led to instability in the country and said a policy unit within his office would ensure stability.

But the opposition says he’s still too much a man of talk and not enough action.

The DA said it is time for the president to make tough decisions. Party leader Mmusi Maimane said Ramaphosa must urgently take action on issues of jobs and reviewing state-owned-entities.

“You sat on that team, as the NO 2 to Zuma’s NO1, and you were silent then. Will you continue to be silent now, as your party is flayed and its entrails laid out at the commission?” Maimane asked.

The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters Julius Malema painted a negative picture of the country’s leadership.

“Under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, the centre is not holding, things fall apart and South Africa is being auctioned off to a very dangerous minority that has private intelligence in service of its interests,” he said.

He pointed to the continuing deterioration of state-owned enterprises as evidence of this poor leadership.

Ramaphosa will reply to the debate on Thursday.