President Cyril Ramaphosa says the 25 Year Review Report will be a tool on how to continue the task of building and consolidating a capable state going forward.
The President launched the report at the Mpumalanga University in Mbombela. The report reflects on government’s achievements and the failures the country has experienced since 1994.
President Ramaphosa says the review report reflects on the strengths and shortcomings of government in fulfilling its mandate for social and economic transformation.
Speaking on education, Ramaphosa says the country doubled special schools across the country and doubled the enrollment in universities to over a million.
“There are now more than 800 000 learners below the age of six in Grade R and many more keep getting into our ECDS; the matric pass rate has increased from 58% in 1994 to 78% in 2017. We have almost doubled special schools for children with disabilities and special needs; total university enrollment has also doubled and now stands at over a million. In 1994 the figure was around 300 000, those who were in those universities were exclusively from one racial group.”
President Ramaphosa says the Review Report reflects that there is a need for policy coherence to over come all these difficulties and grow the economy. Ramaphosa has conceded that more still needs to be done to empower black professionals in the economic sector.
“Over the past 25 years we have introduced a range of policies including broad based black economic empowerment, employment equity, affirmative procurement industrial strategies and land restitution and redistribution, yet we are not where we hoped to be in terms of the impact that we hoped the policies would have. Black direct ownership of the stock exchange in our country still stands at around 3% and black people still account for only 25% of top management in the private sector; furthermore women still account for only 20% of top management across the public and private sector.”
Meanwhile, people who attended the launch of the report have urged government to speed up service delivery in rural communities.
The review report is available for public consumption at government offices.
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