My fellow South Africans,
We have come to the end of another year.
It has been a difficult year for many South Africans.
Yet, despite the many challenges that our country is facing, we do have cause for hope and optimism.
Our hope and our optimism is based on the knowledge that we have faced many hardships in the past and have overcome them.
I therefore firmly believe that better days lie ahead.
In 2024, we will mark 30 years since we attained our freedom. This freedom we attained ushered in enormous changes in our country.
As we reflect on our journey over three decades, we are reminded of how far we have come and of the important progress we have made together.
The findings of Census 2022, which were released earlier this year, relate how our country has been transformed in a number of respects to enable South Africans to lead lives of dignity.
In South Africa today, nearly 9 out of 10 households live in formal dwellings.
Close to 95 percent have access to electricity. Eight out of ten households have access to water either inside their dwellings or in their yards.
The proportion of young people in education has grown dramatically. Matric pass rates have improved and a far greater proportion of adults have completed high school.
This is a country that is moving ahead with determination and purpose to steadily reduce the poverty that we inherited in 1994.
Just as we continue to work to overcome the legacy of our past, so too will we rise to meet our current challenges: of unemployment, poverty, crime, gender-based violence, rising food prices and a severe electricity crisis.
It is the poorest of the poor who are worst affected.
To address these challenges we are at work to rebuild our economy and our society in the wake of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.
Notwithstanding the many setbacks that we have had to confront, our economy has proven to be resilient, and is now larger than it was before the pandemic struck.
Under difficult conditions, we have recovered the jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While we experienced some of the worst load shedding ever in the first few months of 2023, through an intense focus on implementing the Energy Action Plan, there has since been a steady decline in the severity of load shedding.
Through regulatory changes and other measures, we are seeing massive new investment in energy generation and in the installation of rooftop solar.
We are encouraged by the confidence of local businesses and international investors in our country’s prospects. We continue to attract new investment, which supports the growth of local businesses and creates more jobs.
Government departments, Transnet, industry and other social partners are working closely to relieve congestion at our ports and increase the volumes of freight being carried on our key rail corridors.
To address the crisis of unemployment, government has undertaken a number of interventions, including the Presidential Employment Stimulus.
This initiative represents the largest expansion of public employment in our country’s history.
It has provided life-changing opportunities to more than 1.2 million unemployed South Africans in a number of sectors, including education, agriculture, environmental management and conservation, science and innovation, and the creative sector.
This year, Parliament passed a number of laws aimed at further improving the lives of South Africans.
These laws include the National Health Insurance Bill, which will pave the way for equality in the provision of health care services to our people.
We are making progress in the fight against corruption, including bringing those responsible for state capture to justice. We are putting in place laws, institutions and practices that reduce the potential for corruption.
To build communities that are safe and secure, the South African Police Service has established specialised task teams to tackle organised and violent crime, as well as crimes of economic sabotage.
To bolster our fight against criminality we have trained and continue to train thousands of new police men and women.
In advancing our country’s development, we will remain engaged in matters of global concern.
We will continue to work to ensure that those countries with the greatest responsibility for global warming support developing economies to respond to the effects of climate change.
As a country that itself emerged from a bitter past to build a united nation, we will continue to work for reconciliation, peace and an end to conflict and war.
We have maintained a principled position against the continued oppression of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed our support for their quest for full nationhood.
We are deeply concerned by the onslaught against the residents of Gaza and the West Bank. We condemn all violence against civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli.
We call for an immediate ceasefire and dialogue towards a lasting and peaceful resolution of the conflict.
At this time, we pay tribute to the courage, resilience and determination of the South African people, who have shown time and again their ability to rise above difficulty and to embrace their common humanity.
South Africa is a nation of heroes, many of them unseen and unknown.
Our nation’s sportsmen and women made our country proud this year.
We were inspired by the victory of the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup, which they won for the fourth time, more than any other nation.
The achievements of our Special Olympians made our spirits soar as a nation.
I thank all those people who are working day-by-day to make our country a better place, from health care workers to entrepreneurs, from police men and women to firefighters, from teachers to farmers and farmworkers, from religious leaders to public servants.
We remember with sadness the many compatriots that we have lost over the last year to disease, to crime, to road accidents and to natural disasters.
We mourn the recent loss of life and property in floods and fires in different parts of the country. We salute the rapid response teams that responded to these disasters.
Just a few days ago we learnt of the tragic passing of the great Mbongeni Ngema, whose creative work entertained and inspired South Africans over many decades.
As the old year draws to an end and a new year dawns, let us recall the words that he penned:
“We must come together and realise as a nation that unity is our responsibility. Love for our nation is the key for the future, for peace and our prosperity.”
It has always been our greatest strength that we are able to come together in times of difficulty, anchored by our shared commitment to our country.
As long as we remain united, as long as we continue to work together, as long as we are united around our common vision, we will succeed and go farther.
As we look back on the year that has passed and the challenges it has brought, we must look to the future with hope. We must continue to move forward.
We must never lose our courage and we must remain determined to leave no-one behind.
I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.
