President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that South Africa’s road to recovery will be a long one, however, he pointed to the resilience of South Africans and urged citizens to act decisively together.

In his weekly letter to the nation, Ramaphosa reflected on 2022.

“Like for many people around the world, this has been a tough year for many South Africans. Misfortune has tested us over the past year, but these hard times have brought to the fore once more the traits for which we are known as South Africans,” he said.

In the first half of the year, South Africans experienced devastating floods in parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and North West.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict sent shockwaves through global energy and food markets, leading to supply chain disruptions and rising prices that continued to be keenly felt, including in South Africa, said Ramaphosa.

Loadshedding has caused misery for South African households and businesses. 

He also noted that the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were still felt in an already struggling economy and added that public unrest had caused loss of human life and livelihoods. 

“With this difficult year coming to an end and several challenges still not resolved, we need to keep closely focused on what needs to be done to make next year better. But we have good reason to be believe things are getting better. Our great country will rise above adversity, as it has done so many times in the past,” he added.

Ramaphosa is certain that citizens will overcome the current challenges, and believes that South Africans are more than capable of bringing about the recovery the country needs. He said the recovery of the country’s economy and society was underway, and, despite the electricity challenges, the economy was recording growth.

“In the third quarter of this year real gross domestic product grew by 1.6%, and the size of the economy now exceeds pre-pandemic levels. Major industries and sources of job creation such as agriculture, transportation, construction and finance recorded increased economic output. Exports increased by 4.2%,” he pointed out.

Jobs are being created again, with around 1.5-million new jobs created in the last year.

A few months ago, the Presidential Employment Stimulus, reached one-million participants. Ramaphosa explained that more than 3-million youth were registered on the innovative SAYouth.mobi platform that connected them with prospective employers.

He said government was revitalising the National Youth Service to create work opportunities for 50 000 young people. 

PIPELINE OF EMBEDDED GENERATION PROJECTS

Ramaphosa said the procurement of renewable energy had been accelerated and that many of the regulatory hurdles to greater private investment in embedded generation had been removed.

“For more than a decade, South Africa has been confronted with a shortage of electricity, with loadshedding now a daily reality. Over the last year we have taken urgent steps to remedy this dire situation by significantly and rapidly increasing the construction of new generating capacity,” highlighted Ramaphosa.

There is now a significant pipeline of embedded generation projects that are preparing for construction. He explained that government was working closely with Eskom to improve the performance of its fleet of power stations.

“We are undertaking far-reaching reforms to improve the capacity and competitiveness of railways and ports, to open up our telecommunications industry and to improve the supply and pricing of water,” said Ramaphosa.

LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

He noted that this year had seen several corruption-related cases enrolled in the country’s courts and some convictions had been secured.

Multi-disciplinary units that bring together a range of law enforcement agencies are identifying more implicated individuals and entities and preparing cases against them, he added.

After close to four years, the State Capture Commission has concluded its work and presented its final reports to the President. Ramaphosa has submitted the government’s detailed implementation plan of the commission’s recommendations to Parliament. 

“These are by no means the only difficulties we face. Crime, gender-based violence, poverty and hunger continue to cause great misery,” he said.