Director and Chief Economist of Efficient Group Dawie Roodt says South Africans will be wasting their time listening to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the National Address (SONA) next week.
Roodt states that the South African government continues to stumble and doesn’t seem to have a plan behind any announcement they make.
In last year’s SONA, President Ramaphosa stated that he was set to inspire hope and assure South Africans that not all was lost as government was slowly but surely winning the war against the COVID-19 pandemic which ravaged the economy and destroyed jobs.
However, Roodt says, so far, nothing has materialised, and instead infrastructure is collapsing in the country.
Full interview below:
Roodt adds, “This year has been categorised by a huge crisis, especially the lack of electricity. There was a little bit of improvement in terms of unemployment but it is still very high.”
So, Eskom has reduced its rolling blackouts to stage four with effect from 5am on Friday.
According to Roodt, South Africa’s unemployment and poverty will remain high.
Last year, it was reported that joblessness among South Africans continued to climb with the unemployment rate having increased from 34.9% to 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey revealed that the number of employed persons increased by 262 000 to 14.5 million, and the number of unemployed persons also increased by 270 000 to 7.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2021.
Roodt says the average South African is losing confidence in government. He says investors continue to lose confidence in South Africa’s economy.
![[FILE IMAGE] EFF deputy president, Floyd Shivambu addresses the delegates at the party's second People's Assembly in Nasrec, Soweto, 2019.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/SABC-News-Floyd-Shivambu-Dinilohlanga-Mekuto-120x86.png)
