5 things you need to know about Ramaphosa’s SONA speech

On Thursday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his sixth State of the Nation Address. The speech was given from Cape Town’s City Hall instead of from Parliament this year after the seat of government was engulfed in flames in the first week of January. One person faces charges of terrorism and arson after the event.

These are the five biggest things Ramaphosa focused on during annual presentation to the country.

Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic

Ramaphosa paid tribute to South Africa’s healthcare workers who risked their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic to do their jobs. He also commended South Africans for their resilience in dealing with the novel virus. He highlighted that the fund accumulated R3.4 billion with donations from business and individuals.

He said the national state of disaster would be ending as soon as government finalised measures to deal with the pandemic that remains with us.

Reports on corruption

State capture:
The president spoke to corruption within different sectors in the country, commending the Commission into State Capture for its work. The final state capture report is due to reach the president later this year. But he said that the first two reports so far showed that there was “indeed state capture”. He said government has begun programmes to get state-owned entities affected by state capture – Eskom, Denel, South African Airways, the South African Revenue Service, government communications and Transnet – back on track and that there would be measures to ensure that they are more efficient and accountable. He added that by 30 June, he would have a plan of action to deal with the criminality.

COVID-19 contracts:
The Special Investigations Unit sent its final report on its investigation into COVID-related contracts to the president’s office. He said that 45 matters to the value of R2.1b billion in total is now with the Special Tribunal. Ramaphosa added that 224 government officials have been referred for disciplinary action and a whopping 386 cases have been sent to the National Prosecuting Authority for possible prosecution.

July violence:
Earlier this week, the report into the July civil unrest that resulted in more than 300 people dying was released. The report showed that there was an “inept” handling of the situation, the president said. The report said Cabinet should take responsibility for what happened.

Cannabis

The president said government would be looking to ease policies to help the hemp and cannabis sectors grow in South Africa. He highlighted that South Africans have already been farming the products, saying smoking the plants would soon not be the only way they are used.

Eskom

Ramaphosa said power cuts continued to have a huge impact on the lives of all South Africans, disrupting business activities and placing additional strains on families and communities. He added that during the past year, government took steps to bring additional generation capacity online as quickly as possible to close the shortfall, which is around 4,000 megawatts. He attributed the problem to “our aging power stations, poor maintenance, policy missteps and the ruinous effects of state capture”. The president outlined his plans to generate more power.

Business red tape

Ramaphosa said government would be looking at ways to cut our red tape that often hamstrings businesses in South Africa. Government is looking at the Business Act to assist with it. He said this will help businesses hire more people and build self-employment.

-EWN

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