President Cyril Ramaphosa’s SONA 2022 was a stark reminder of how far the country still has to go to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Using the Parliament fire to make a symbolic reference to the rising unemployment and poverty, Ramaphosa reflected on the bleak outcome since the pandemic struck.
“The devastation of a pandemic that over the past two years has taken the lives of tens of thousands of South Africans, put two million people out of work and brought misery to families.”
Cyril Ramphosa began his SONA 2022 speech
Quoting former President Thabo Mbeki, “Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested during the best of times,” Ramaphosa reminded South Africans of their resilience amidst uncertainty.
To tackle the alarming increase in unemployment, an ambitious Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan will be implemented. Giving his cabinet 100 days, Ramaphosa and team will need to fine-tune requirements to grow the economy, create jobs and alleviate poverty.
Priorities this year remains similar to that of 2021:
- Overcome the Covid-19 pandemic
- Massive rollout of infrastructure
- Substantial increase in local production
- Employment stimulus to create jobs and support livelihoods
- Rapid expansion of our energy generation capacity
The president admitted that “the problems in the South African economy are deep and they are structural.”
One of the ways the president aims to strengthen businesses is by doing away with the bureaucratic delays for businesses, starting with ensuring government departments pay for services within 30 days.
At the heart of rebuilding the economy is R100 billion towards The Infrastructure Fund.
The State was indeed captured!
At the start of the year, Ramaphosa was handed the first two parts of the report by the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
“While the definitive conclusion will only be delivered at the end of February, with the information in the first two parts indicate the State was indeed captured,” Ramaphosa said.
This means that public institutions and state-owned enterprises were infiltrated by a criminal network intent on looting public money for private gain.
The reports have detailed the devastating effects of this criminal activity on SAA, Transnet, Denel, South African Revenue Service and Government Communications.
State capture had a direct and very concrete negative impact on the lives of all South Africans, but especially the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society.
Ramaphosa will by 30 June present a plan of action in response to the Commission’s reccomendations.