News24 | ANALYSIS | SONA 2024: Party like it’s 1999

Jan Gerber

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President Cyril Ramaphosa during the 2024 State of the Nation Address (SONA) Debate at Cape Town City Hall on Day 2 on 14 February 2024 in Cape Town.

Ziyaad Douglas / Gallo Images

This past week, the ANC presented in the debate on the State of the Nation Address a revisionist take on the past 30 years, showing a party under pressure but with no excuses for its failings and no new ideas to offer the electorate, writes parliamentary reporter Jan Gerber.

In 1982, the inimitable Prince released a song titled 1999, which coined the phrase “party like it’s 1999”.

I thought about this a lot while covering this year’s debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) because the ANC seemed stuck in 1999.

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