President Cyril Ramaphosa opened his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, by recapping the country’s 30-year post-apartheid history.
He said in the fall of apartheid there came unprecedented opportunities, saying that the African National Congress (ANC) provided with necessities like never before.
The president touched on the state of the country’s agriculture, manufacturing, and job creation.
When he mentioned that unemployment was a trend across the world, the president was met with boos from some of those assembled at the address.
According to the president’s address at the Sona, women have advanced in the workforce because they were held back by laws of the past.
More black people now hold executive positions than they did, an increment of fivefold since 1994, he added.
“We will continue to position our economy to grow and compete in a fast-changing world, to support small businesses, to give young people economic opportunities and to provide social protection to the vulnerable,” Ramaphosa said.
“We will continue the work to improve the country’s fiscal position and hold firm to a sound macroeconomic trajectory.”
He went on to say that an inclusive economy will be built with a focus on the empowerment of black and women South Africans, advancing workers’ rights, intensifying land reform and pursuing a just energy transition that will leave no one-one behind.
“We want a country in which the same opportunities are available to every child, whether they are born in Sandton, in Mdantsane, in Sekhukhune, in Mitchell’s Plain or in Phoenix.”
IOL