By Kouthar Sambo

As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) set to take place on Thursday at the Cape Town City Hall, various organisations will hold a protest at the St. George’s Cathedral at 2:30 pm today.

The idea is to push for a radical campaign to build solutions for the future of the country. Speaking on VOC’s DriveTime show on Wednesday, a member of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and a representative of the “People’s SONA” Abeedah Adams, said the protest is held to ensure people are heard.

“We are also concerned about the policy decisions our government has been making, as it has never been in the interest of our people. The objective of this alternative SONA is to allow people to state their views in terms of what they think should ideally be in a SONA of the most unequal country in the world,” explained Adams.

We have a government that is not listening to its people, expressed Adams, and a government that has been subjecting its people to ongoing budget cuts and belt-tightening exercises.

“But at the same time, ridiculous increases are being awarded to political office bearers whether they have local, national or provincial government,” maintained Adams.

Government must get their priorities and policies straight, said Adams.

“As much they say they want to undo the legacies of apartheid, they are not doing that. We do not want to do Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), our people are demanding good, decent, sustainable jobs,” asserted Adams.

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