The president delivered his 8th address. The last one before elections later this year
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation address.
Over the last three decades, we have been on a journey, striving together to achieve a new society – a national democratic society. We have enabled a diverse economy whose minerals, agricultural products and manufactured goods reach every corner of the world, while creating jobs in South Africa. More recently, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has contributed to rising prices of fuel, food and other goods across the world – and has, as a result, made life more difficult for all South Africans.
It was the same determination that enabled the country to endure the devastation of COVID-19, the worst global pandemic in over a century. As the government, we have introduced laws and directed more resources to prosecuting perpetrators, providing better support to survivors, and promoting women’s economic empowerment.
Tintswalo – democracy’s child – grew up in a society that was worlds apart from the South Africa of her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Tintswalo was enrolled in a school in which her parents did not have to pay school fees, and each school day she received a nutritious meal as part of a programme that today supports 9 million learners from poor families.
For despite the remarkable achievements of the last 30 years, many of democracy’s children still face great challenges. Through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, we established SAYouth.mobi as a zero-rated platform for unemployed young people to access opportunities for learning and earning.
Having a job does not only provide an income – it is fundamental to people’s sense of self-worth, dignity, hope, purpose and inclusion. Our first priority was to put a decisive stop to state capture, to dismantle the criminal networks within the state and to ensure that perpetrators faced justice. We appointed capable people with integrity to head our law enforcement agencies, government departments, security services and state companies, often through an independent and transparent processes.
We have taken steps, including through new legislation, to strengthen our ability to prevent money laundering and fraud and secure our removal from the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force. Over the last two years, the number of jobs being created has been increasing every quarter, and we now have more people in employment than before the pandemic.Even as employment is growing, more people are entering the job market each year than jobs are being created.
We have delivered on our commitments to bring substantial new power through private investment on to the grid, which is already helping to reduce load shedding. We have implemented sweeping regulatory reforms to enable private investment in electricity generation, with more than 120 new private energy projects now in development.
To fast-track this process, we will enable private investment in transmission infrastructure through a variety of innovative investment models. This is why we are implementing a just energy transition, not only to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change, but to create growth and jobs for our own people.
We are going to set up a Special Economic Zone in the Boegoebaai port to drive investment in green energy. There is a great deal of interest from the private sector to participate in the boom that will be generated green hydrogen energy projects. To address the persistent effects of global warming, which manifest themselves through persistent floods, fires and droughts, we have decided to establish a Climate Change Response Fund.
Working closely with business and labour, we have established dedicated teams to turn around five strategic corridors that transport goods for export purposes. With the current conflict in the Middle East affecting shipping traffic through the Suez Canal, South Africa is well positioned to offer bunkering services for ships that will be rerouted via our shores.
Just this week, we published new regulations to reform our visa system, which will make it easier to attract the skills that our economy needs and create a dynamic ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. Bulk water projects are under construction across the country to improve water supply to millions of residents in villages, towns and cities.Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Umzimvubu, Hazelmere Dam, uMkhomazi Water Project, Clanwilliam Dam, Tzaneen Dam, Loskop, Mandlakazi, pipeline from Jozini Dam, Giyani, pipeline from Nandoni Dam to Nsami Dam, Pilanesberg Water, Vaal Gamagara and pipeline from the Vaal River to Hothazel.
In November last year, Cabinet approved a framework for high-speed rail, focusing initially on the Johannesburg to Durban corridor.Through redistribution, around 25 percent of farmland in our country is now owned black South Africans, bringing us closer to achieving our target of 30 percent by 2030.
The reforms that we have initiated and the work that is underway will enable us to end load shedding, to improve our logistics system, to achieve water security and ultimately to create jobs. Moving early childhood development to the Department of Basic Education was one of the most important decisions as we were now able to devote more resources to early childhood development and ensure that through cooperative governance various departments of government get involved in early childhood development augmented by the Department of Basic education.
Social assistance has been shown to increase school enrolment and attendance, lower drop-out rates, and improve the pass rate.Life expectancy has increased from 54 years in 2003 to 65 years in 2023.We have built more hospitals and clinics, especially in poor areas, providing better quality care to more South Africans.
One of the most visible, impactful and meaningful achievements in the first three decades of freedom has been in providing homes to the people.Where there were once shacks and mud houses, there are now homes of brick and mortar. We have started the implementation of a number of measures to address this problem by providing support to local government, including professionalising the civil service and ensuring that people with the right skills are appointed to key positions.
During this administration, we have focused on equipping our law enforcement agencies, which had been systematically weakened, to do their work effectively. We launched the new Border Management Authority last year to improve the security of our borders, and have already stopped over 100,000 people who tried to enter our country illegally.
Our ultimate goal is to end gender-based violence altogether by mobilising all of society. As part of this, we support the call for a pledge that men in South Africa are invited to take to demonstrate their personal commitment to ending this scourge.We still have a long way to go to build safer communities, prevent violent crime, and protect our infrastructure.
Guided by the fundamental principle of human rights and freedom, we have taken up the Palestinian cause to prevent further deaths and destruction in Gaza. The expansion of the group from five to ten members presents opportunities for trade and a strengthening of political and diplomatic ties between countries in the global South.
And we have had to confront and overcome a debilitating electricity crisis that, despite significant improvement in recent months, continues to hold back our economy. We have protected and advanced the rights of members of the LGBTQI community, and continue to combat all forms of prejudice and intolerance.While we have set in motion the process of renewal and reform, there is more work to be done to see these reforms through to the end.
We will continue to position our economy to grow and compete in a fast-changing world, to support small businesses, to give young people economic opportunities and to provide social protection to the vulnerable. We should not give in to those who resist the responsibility that the Constitution places on us all to correct the injustices of the past and fundamentally transform our economy and society.
As in the past, as in the future, the people of South Africa should stand together against any attempt to reverse the achievements of our democracy. As we look towards the next 30 years of freedom, we must choose the kind of country, and indeed the kind of world, we want to create for ourselves and for our children.
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