By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
With not much achieved over the past year and during his first term in office, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised once again to end load shedding that is costing the economy over R300-billion a year.
He said this as thousands lose jobs and companies shut their doors because of relentless power cuts.
Plans to end load shedding have yielded no results, and the ANC leadership is sabotaging the R240-billion Just Energy Transition from heavy reliance on coal-fired power stations to renewable energy sources.
Ramaphosa promised to employ another 10,000 new police officers after recruiting 20,000 new cops in the past two years.
But serious and violent crime has increased, with over 27,200 murders in 2023 according to the SAPS crime stats.
“We will be able to revive our economy; yes we will tackle and deal with the debilitating effects of load shedding, our ports and the logistics.
“We will continue to strengthen our law enforcement institutions, and we will continue to tackle gender-based violence and fight corruption to make South Africa a safe place for all,” said Ramaphosa.
With most ANC-run municipalities paralysed by corruption, mismanagement of state funds and the hiring of friends and relatives, Ramaphosa promised the nation he would fix local government.
Just as he did at the recent ANC birthday celebrations in Mpumalanga, Ramaphosa praised the administration for further increasing the number of South Africans who live on social grants.
He presented a narrative of how a child born in the country can now live on social grants from birth until adulthood.
Youths and unemployed people beyond school-going age are also expected to live on the R350 grant until they become pensioners, when they can access the old-age pension grant of R2,000 a month.
Over 26-million people live on social grants in SA today.
With youth unemployment reaching over 70% in some provinces, Ramaphosa said his government has created “more than 1.7-million work and livelihood opportunities”.
“We have placed more than one million school assistants in 23,000 schools, providing participants with valuable work experience while improving learning outcomes.”
While millions in urban and rural settlements yearn for clean drinking water, Ramaphosa said: “Bulk water projects are under construction across the country to improve water supply to millions of residents in villages, towns and cities.”
Pictured above: President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Thursday night.
Source: X
