South Africa’s number 1 citizen, President Cyril Ramaphosa, made some huge promises, including more than 100 000 jobs, and lower data costs, as he outlined seven priorities for the new administration when he delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday night.
These priorities include economic transformation and job creation, education, skills and health, consolidating the social wage through reliable and quality basic services, spatial integration, human settlements and local government, social cohesion and safer communities and finally a better Africa and World.
The President also said that in an economy that is not growing, at a time when public finances are limited, his government will not be able to do everything at once.
Ramaphosa said, “All our programmes and policies across all departments and agencies will be directed in pursuit of these overarching tasks. At the same time, we must restore the National Development Plan to its place at the centre of our national effort, to make it alive, to make it part of the lived experience of the South African people.”
Ramaphosa said that within the next 10 years, his administration will have made progress in tackling poverty, inequality and unemployment.
He also said that the government had made great progress in providing housing, but also admitted that South Africans still need land to build homes and earn livelihoods. “In the next five years, we will accelerate the provision of well-located housing and land to poor South Africans,” said the President.
The President also indicated that they will attend to the health of South Africans in order to improve the quality of life for South Africans, to reduce poverty in all its dimensions and to strengthen the country’s economy.
He called on all South Africans to deliberately and consistently buy locally-made goods. Making an example out of his outfit for the day, he said, “The suit, shirt and tie I am wearing today were locally made by South African textile workers working at the House of Monatic here in Saltriver, Cape Town.”
Ramaphosa remained hopeful despite the difficult time South Africa is having, and said, “It’s you who give me courage, and to whom I offer courage in return. Working together there’s nothing we cannot be, nothing we cannot do, and nothing we cannot achieve.”
