President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday addressed the nation in his first weekly newsletter and revealed that government would be finalising a clear economic growth strategy for the country in the next few weeks.

He said several parts of the strategy were already in place and it would draw on public contributions made to the discussion paper recently released by National Treasury.

He revealed that a clear strategy to place State-owned enterprise Eskom on a sustainable path of recovery was also being finalised.

Meanwhile, on the first Monday of every month, Ramaphosa will meet with Deputy President David Mabuza and leaders of the business, labour and community sectors to review the implementation measures taken at last year’s Jobs Summit.

The President went on to relay concerns from South Africans about the state of the economy and high rates of unemployment.

“These concerns are real. This year, the economy will record growth that is lower than expected (and much lower than what we need). Government finances are stretched about as far as they can go, and several industries are looking at retrenching workers,” Ramaphosa highlighted.

While implementing change took time, he said it was important to effect change while overthrowing State capture, corruption and malfeasance.

He said changes being made at State-owned enterprises and State bodies, such as the National Prosecuting Authority, the South African Revenue Service and the State Security Agency, had shown that government was committed to tackling corruption and ending State capture.

“Despite the difficulties, South Africans from all walks of life are still moved by the spirit of Thuma Mina to become involved in fixing our country. They want to change the narrative of doubt to a narrative of opportunity not through clever spin, but through action. South Africans are ready to rise to the challenge,” Ramaphosa said.

He also went on to highlight the headway government had made in attracting more investment, and finalising the Mining Charter, the broadband spectrum and changes to the country’s visa policy.

Government has also committed to financial support to black farmers, the revitalisation of industrial parks in townships, as well as a Township Economy Fund.

“All this work is taking place at a time when government’s finances are under great strain, and there is very little room to increase spending or borrowing. This means that we need to spend our limited resources more smartly, get rid of wastage and shift more resources to infrastructure investment,” Ramaphosa stressed.