PARLIAMENT - Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane on Tuesday accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of doing no more than watching as the economy deteriorates and unemployment rises.
In the debate on Ramaphosa's state of the nation (Sona) address last week, Maimane mocked the president for repeatedly using the phrase "watch this space".
He charged: "That is all you've been doing for the past decade and it's all you've been doing for your entire first year in office. Watching and waiting. You've been watching this space as youth unemployment grew to include more than half our young people.
"'You've been watching this space as Eskom fell apart, threatening to plunge our country into a crisis we may never recover from."
Maimane said South Africans were saddled with a government that cannot and will not act while the looting of state resources continues.
"Mr President, it is clear that they are in charge, and not you."