PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday night.
Speaking at the Cape Town City Hall, he began his speech by inviting the dignitaries gathered to pay tribute to the 14 SANDF soldiers who died in the recent fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Evoking the signing of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People, the cornerstone of our democratic Constitution, in Kliptown 70 years ago, the president called for unity in South Africa in a rapidly changing world.
Referring to SA’s BRICS partnership with Brazil, Russia, India and China, and growing tensions with Donald Trump’s USA and its allies, he said: “We will not be bullied. We will stand together as a united nation.
“We stand for our shared humanity, not for the survival of the fittest. We want a nation united in its diversity.”
With that, he said the Government of Nation United must strive to achieve their Medium Term Development Plan. Firstly, to drive inclusive growth and job creation. Secondly, to reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living. Thirdly, to build a capable, ethical and developmental state.
Job creation and poverty eradication
Ramaphosa said that there has been an increase in job creation, but more needed to be done to eradicate poverty.
"To support this growth we are investing in skills development for the industries of the future," he said.
He said that an expansion was needed to support small and medium enterprises, which takes care of many households in the country.
Ramaphosa said that in order to create jobs government has to build an innovative economy, ventured capital for tech start-ups that emerge from tertiary institutions.
"We want a nation where no one goes hungry," Ramaphosa said.
"We have much to do and much more work needs to be done to end poverty in our country."
Managing load shedding and infrastructure
Ramaphosa says their energy action strategy managed to reduce load shedding.
Despite load shedding reminder over the weekend, Ramaphosa says the trajectory is good even though the energy supply is constrained.
Ramaphosa says state-owned entities including Eskom must function for economic and social purposes.
To achieve this Ramaphosa said government would engage “local and international financial institutions and investors to unlock R100 billion in infrastructure financing”.
He added: “Government will spend more than R940 billion on infrastructure over the next three years. This includes R375 billion in spending by state owned companies.”
This funding will revitalise our roads and bridges, build dams and waterways, modernise our ports and airports and power our economy.
Health, funding and the NHI
President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted government is concerned about the potential impact of the decision by the United States government to suspend some of its funding for HIV and TB programmes in African countries for 90 days.
He said: “This funding accounts for about 17 percent of our country’s HIV spend. We have been able to provide funding from our fiscus for our HIV and TB programmes over the years.
“We are looking at various interventions to address the immediate needs and ensure the continuity of essential services.“
Youth and diversity economic opportunities
Ramaphosa said R20 billion a year over the next five years will go to fund black-owned and small business enterprises.
Regulations of the Public Procurement Act to ensure businesses owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities receive equitable opportunities in government contracts will be fast-tracked.
The government will also drive initiatives to develop a labour force and entrepreneurs for the green economy.
Housing and mobility
Ramaphosa said underutilised state properties will be redeveloped for affordable housing development and the government will clear the backlog of title deeds for subsidised housing, turning homes into household assets.
We will review land use, building and other regulations to enable low-cost property development, including backyard housing.
Gun violence, crime and GBV
The Minister and the National Commissioner of Police must prioritise reducing gun-related crime and violence.
The Detective Service, which is crucial to solving cases, will be expanded by 4,000 personnel through internal recruitment processes.
We are working on adopting surveillance, analytics and smart policing solutions for modern law enforcement.
Ramaphosa promised 16 more sexual offences courts will be established in the next financial year.