President Cyril Ramaphosa says positive strides have been made to grow the economy in the past thirty years.
This is despite the country being dubbed the most unequal society globally by the World Bank and having revised its growth prospects for 2024.
Speaking during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Cape Town last night, Ramaphosa said more people are in employment today than there were in 1994.
“Our economy is today three times larger than it was 30 years ago. The number of South Africans in employment increased from 8 million in 1994 to over 16.7 million now. 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.”
SONA 2024 | President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address 2024:
President Ramaphosa says dealing with poverty is one of the highlights of the African National Congress (ANC) led government over the past three decades.
This was the last SONA of the sixth administration.
The address comes two months before the celebration of the country’s 30 years of democracy. Ramaphosa says they have managed to reduce poverty by almost 20 percent since 1993.
“Our policies and programmes have over the course of 30 years, lifted millions of people out of dire poverty. Today, fewer South Africans go hungry and fewer live in poverty. In 1993, South Africa faced a significant poverty challenge, with 71.1% of its population living in poverty. However, under the democratic government, there has been a consistent decline in these numbers. By 2010, the poverty rate had dropped to 60.9%, and it continued to decrease, reaching 55.5% in 2020, as reported by the World Bank.”
