Presidency
President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined four priority areas for government in 2021 when he delivered his 2021 State Of the Nation Address on Thursday night.
He told a hybrid joint sitting of Parliament that top of the agenda is defeating Covid19, followed by accelerating the country’s economic recovery, implementing economic reforms for growth, fighting corruption, and strengthening the state.
Addressing the government's handling of the Covid19 pandemic, Ramaphosa conceded that mistakes were made and the government had received a lot of criticism.
However, he said the fact of the matter was that South Africans stood together to fight this common enemy.
The President said the government has secured 9 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with the first batch, of 80,000 doses, arriving next week.
He said the success of the vaccination programme would rely on active collaboration between all sectors of society.
In his wide-ranging speech, which was a reflection on what government had achieved as opposed to making promises for the future, President Ramaphosa said the R100 billion infrastructure fund was now in full operation.
He said an infrastructure pipeline worth more than R340 billion rand has been developed in Energy, Water, Transport, and Communications. These include the rehabilitation of major highways, the Student Housing Infrastructure Programme, and the Mokola and Crocodile Water Projects.
President Ramaphosa also announced the extension of the R350 social relief grant for a further three months.
Turning to corruption, Ramaphosa said the government had started implementing the National Anti-Corruption Strategy which lay the basis for a comprehensive and integrates society-wide response to corruption.
"We will shortly be appointing the members of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, which is a multi-sectoral body that will oversee the establishment of an independent anti-corruption body that reports to Parliament."
Ramaphosa said when reports started to surface last year about possible fraud and corruption in the procurement of COVID-related goods and services, the government acted decisively to put a stop to these practices."
"We established a fusion centre, which brings together key law enforcement agencies to share information and resources. The Fusion Centre has brought many cases to trial and preserved or recovered millions of rand in public funds," he said.
Ramaphosa said corruption was one of the greatest impediments to the country’s economic growth.
“The revelations from the Zondo Commission of Inquiry lay bare the extent of state capture and related corruption,” adding that it was “therefore vital that we sustain the momentum of the rebuilding effort that we began three years ago.”
