President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to focus on the progress made in the four key priority areas he identified last year when he delivers his State of the Nation Address on Thursday evening.
His address comes at a time when the economy is faced with a combination of high unemployment, stagnant Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as well as a widening gap between rich and poor.
All the factors have been compounded by the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the blow from last July’s unrest which saw the destruction of public property and business as well as the loss of over 300 lives.
For the first time since 1994, the annual State of the Nation Address will not be delivered in the National Assembly.
Following a devastating fire in Parliament last month, it will now be delivered in the Cape Town City Hall.
In his address last year, President Ramaphosa was well aware of the challenges ahead and called for the rebirth of South Africa after a devastating year with the economy ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Expectations for State of Nation Address:
President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “The year ahead must be a time for change, for progress and also for rebirth. It must be a year in which we rise as a people and we do things that are going to make us rise. This is no ordinary year and this is no ordinary State of the Nation Address.”
And he laid out the top four priorities for his administration in the year under review.
” First, we must defeat the coronavirus pandemic. Second, we must accelerate our economic recovery. Third, we must implement economic reforms to create sustainable jobs and drive inclusive growth. And finally, we must fight corruption and strengthen the state.”
The president is still committed to a dream of new smart cities with the Lanseria Project well on track. A new smart city is planned between Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape in Port Alfred.
“Two years ago, I spoke about the dream of building new cities that will enable us to make a break – a decisive break with apartheid spartial planning. Many people laughed and a scoffed the idea off. New ideas are being conceptualized in a number of provinces.”
Although Eskom’s nightmare of rolling blackouts is not over, the president said the power utility is making good progress with resolving its energy generation failures.
Ramaphosa said, “Now restoring Eskom to operational and financial health and accelerating its reconstruction process is central to the work that we do. Eskom has been separated into three different divisions, transmission, generation and distribution. This will lay the foundation for an efficient, modern and competitive energy distribution in South Africa. Eskom is making substantial progress with intensive maintenance to improve the reliability of its cold fleet.”
And with a number of shortfalls in his promises, including an increased unemployment rate and low economic growth, the president is set to inspire hope and assure South Africans that not all is lost as government is slowly but surely winning the war against the COVID-19 pandemic which ravaged the economy and destroyed jobs.
SONA 2022 | Parliament’s Presiding Officers to inspect the Cape Town City Hall ahead of SONA 2022:
