At the height of the 20^th century with countless adversities overcome, the nation stands at the mercy of possibly one of the most anticipated State of the Nation Addresses since the late Nelson Mandela’s. It is at this point of our history where the nation has shown its solidarity on various issues of public concern, prominent issues like the appropriation of land, access and quality of education coupled with ‘fees must fall’ mass demonstrations, which vividly and actively expressed the level of dissatisfaction of the masses. 

 Although the intentions behind these mass demonstrations are noble and for the most part, just, the way in which they are exercised has left little to be desired.  One wonders what possible way forward our beleaguered government can take to restore peace and ensure equality for all participants involved. 

Not too long ago, our nation was hit hard by the gripping reality of the Marikana Massacre. Families were left destitute without fathers, brothers and breadwinners due to the fatal human brutality demonstrated by the South African Police Service (SAPS) towards the mineworkers at Marikana. Of course the Marikana Commission of Inquiry and our justice system have made attempts for justice between the perpetrators and the victims. Questions and mind battles still exist from the aftermath of the killings of the mineworkers in Marikana, considering the very evident fact that mining is considered to be one of the sectors that contribute to the sustenance of the volatile economy of this developing country whose history and happenings have brought many a time the world to its feet.

Sixteen years into the millennium and 22 years into democracy the nation still stands in eager anticipation of how much the ordinary tax payer has to fork out to chip into the financing of services such as social grants, child welfare, basic education, water and sanitation and the dissemination of public good medication such as ARVs.  More to the nerve of the request is how much of a priority young people receive as tabulated in the SONA and how much of that will be translated to rand value. We stand with ears wide open to hear what our government’s plans are to eradicate ‘home-boyism employment, unemployment, inequality, skills-development programmes and funding for the initiatives of young people.  Perhaps this time around our government and the forces that be have done enough research and left no stone unturned in terms of conducting thorough research about the primary needs of the young people of this country .

We can only hope again, that the most rural parts of this country with no running water or proper schooling infrastructure have also been considered as they also form part of the 59 million growing citizenship.   

This year’s State of the Nation Address will set the tone and stage on how the citizens of this country will approach the polls come 2019. If the recent municipal elections are anything to go by we can only but anticipate a very interesting, yet life changing national elections in the year 2019.  Issues like xenophobic attacks are still dark spatters on our vibrant flag and these injustices need to be dealt with progressively and diligently. The country in all its four corners is screaming for similar things, services are demanded, South Africans are crying out in loud voices demanding that all the promises that were made be materialised at the turn of the century.