In his opening remarks, the President said: “It is a great honour to stand before you this evening to present the State of the Nation. For we are a nation defined not by the oceans and rivers that form the boundaries of our land.
“We are not defined by the minerals under our earth or the spectacular landscape above it. We are not even defined by the languages we speak or the songs we sing or the work we do. We are, at our most essential, a nation defined by hope and resilience.
“It was hope that sustained our struggle for freedom, and it is hope that swells our sails as we steer our country out of turbulent waters to calmer seas.
“Even in these trying times, it is hope that sustains us and fuels our determination to overcome even the greatest of difficulties.”
Reflecting on the past years
“Just three years ago, our country was devastated by the worst global pandemic in living memory. Thousands of lives were lost, companies closed, jobs were lost. COVID-19 did not browbeat us into submission or disillusionment.
“Working together, we overcame that crisis, and we have started to recover. Today our economy is larger than it was before the pandemic. Between the third quarters of 2021 and 2022, around one and a half million new jobs were created in our economy.
“The Presidential Employment Stimulus has provided work and livelihood opportunities to more than one million people.
“Last year, our matriculants defied the effects of the pandemic to achieve a pass rate of 80% and we congratulate them for that great achievement.”
Paying tribute to top performers
“We see this spirit of determination in our artists, musicians, actors, authors and sportsmen and women, who are making waves at home, on the continent and beyond our shores.
“Banyana Banyana made us proud when they won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations to become the champions of Africa.
“Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman have made us proud at the Grammy Awards for their collaboration, Bayethe.”
Achievements and challenges
“What we have achieved as a nation over the past year, despite our challenges, remind us that the promise of South Africa is alive. The progress we have seen should give us courage as we look to a better future.
“And yet, I address you this evening, in homes across the country, many people are suffering, many are worried, many are uncertain and many are without hope. But of this I am certain. Whatever the difficulties of the moment, whatever crises we face, we will rise to meet them together and, together, we will overcome them.
“This, we will be able to do if we work together and leave no one behind. We gather here at a time of crisis. Our country has, for many months, endured a debilitating electricity shortage that has caused immense damage to our economy.
“And for two years before that, our society was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic that caused great loss of life and much hardship. The pandemic worsened a situation of deep unemployment, as the country lost two million jobs. The pandemic negatively affected livelihoods and increased poverty.
“In July 2021, we experienced the worst public violence and destruction in the history of our democracy, causing over 300 deaths. Last year, parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West were struck by catastrophic flooding that caused extensive loss of life, the destruction of homes and damage to infrastructure.
“And now, persistent load-shedding is impeding our recovery from the effects of these events. We know that without a reliable supply of electricity, businesses cannot grow, assembly lines cannot run, crops cannot be irrigated and basic services are interrupted.
“Load-shedding means that households and supermarkets are unable to keep food fresh, water supply is often disrupted, traffic lights do not work and streets are not lit at night.
“Without a reliable supply of electricity, our efforts to grow an inclusive economy that creates jobs and reduces poverty will not succeed. Therefore, as we outline our agenda for the year ahead, our most immediate task is to dramatically reduce the severity of load-shedding in the coming months and ultimately end load-shedding altogether.
Under these conditions, we cannot proceed as we usually would. The people of South Africa want action, they want solutions and they want government to work for them. They simply want to know when a problem like load-shedding will be brought to an end.”
– President Cyril Ramaphosa, SoNA, 9 February 2023, Cape Town City Hall.
“We are, therefore, focused on those actions that will make a meaningful difference now, that will enable real progress within the next year and that will lay a foundation for a sustained recovery into the future.
“We are not presenting new plans, nor are we outlining here the full programme of government. Rather we are concentrating on those issues that concern South Africans the most:
- Load-shedding.
- Unemployment.
- Poverty and the rising cost of living.
- Crime and corruption.
“There are no easy solutions to any of these challenges. Yet we have the strength, the means and the wherewithal to overcome them. If we work together and act boldly and decisively, leaving no one behind, we will be able to resolve our challenges.
“This SoNA is about seeing hope where there is despair. It is about showing a way out of these crises. This evening, we will give an account of our progress in implementing the commitments we made in last year’s SoNA.
“Over the course of the last year, we have laid a firm foundation based on the commitments we made for faster growth through our investment drive, economic reforms, public employment programmes and an expanding infrastructure programme.
“What is clear from our experience of the last few years – indeed from our history as a democracy – is that we are not a people easily resigned to our fate. When we faced the greatest challenge of apartheid, we did not submit to the oppression that the apartheid regime imposed on our people.
“We stood firm and engaged in a struggle, hopeful that our cause would triumph. And it did. Against all odds we were able to defeat the apartheid system. We can, and we will change the circumstances in which we find ourselves today. We are both able and determined to overcome these difficulties and place our economy on a firm path to recovery.”
Related links
- President Cyril Ramaphosa: 2023 State of the Nation Address, 9 February 2023
Source: State of the Nation Address Highlights [PDF]
