Ahead of the World Cup win, Ramaphosa had indicated that he would declare a holiday in celebration of the national team’s inspiration performance at the World Cup.
THE EFF has rejected President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “holiday within a holiday” announcement.
On Monday night, following his return from the Rugby World Cup in France, in which the Springboks emerged victorious, Ramaphosa announced that Friday, December 15, will be a public holiday.
Ahead of the World Cup win, Ramaphosa had indicated that he would declare a holiday in celebration of the national team’s inspiration performance at the World Cup.
However, Ramaphosa, in his address, indicated that he could not announce a holiday immediately and instead chose December 15 as the ideal time to declare it a public holiday.
However, he said the public holiday should happen after Grade 12 learners are done writing their exams.
“I know that many of us want us to have a holiday now to celebrate. But we should all agree that we should give our matriculants time to focus on their exams and celebrate afterwards.
“In celebration of the Springboks’ momentous achievement and the achievements of all our other sports men and women – and as a tribute to the resolve of our united nation – I am declaring Friday the 15th of December 2023 as a public holiday. We declare this to be a day of hope, a day of celebration and unity. Our sports men and women have shown us what is possible. We will succeed, and we will ensure that we leave no-one behind,” said Ramaphosa.
However, the Red Berets described Ramaphosa’s move as “fake“ and pointless, as December 15 already forms part of the holiday season.
“The EFF rejects Cyril Ramaphosa’s opportunistic and deceitful announcement, where he purports to have announced a public holiday on the 15th of December 2023 in honour of the victory of the Springboks at the 2023 Rugby World Cup,” the party said.
The EFF said the president has failed to honour his very own promise, which he made ahead of Saturday’s win.
“In a typical ANC fashion, Cyril Ramaphosa committed to give the people of SA a public holiday if the Springboks triumph at the Rugby World Cup; now the time to deliver, he has betrayed his own promises like a liar he is. The 15th of December falls within a holiday period wherein the majority of labour intensive industries are already closed, schools are closed, and many South Africans are home with their families. To make matters worse, the 15th of December falls before the 16th of December, which is deemed as the Day of Reconciliation and is, in actual fact, an existing public holiday,” the party said.
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), through its founder, Wayne Duvenage, described Ramaphosa’s address to the nation as boring.
“Yawn. This President Ramaphosa 30th Oct ‘Family Meeting’ – was nothing but a political speech. Aside from acknowledging our great Springbok victory, this speech was an attempt to paint a good picture of a dire situation and the economy trashed by his own party, was nothing short of putting lipstick on a pig,“ Duvenage said on X.
The Star
