MESSAGE BY PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
31 December 2020
As we reflect on the year that now draws to a close, we see a world that is fundamentally different to anything we have known before.
There is no corner of the earth, nor any part of our country, that has been unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic.
It has devastated lives and destroyed livelihoods, caused great pain, and left many people hungry and destitute.
At the same time, it has brought our people together.
The pandemic has demonstrated our people’s great capacity for cooperation, solidarity and shared endeavour.
Globally, the countries of the world have worked together to share information and resources.
Our continent, under the leadership of the African Union, came together to develop a common response to this pandemic, and found an innovative way to ensure all countries have access to essential medical supplies.
We have gone out to the rest of the world to advocate for debt relief and to mobilise funds for Africa’s coronavirus response and for its economic recovery.
In the face of this unprecedented crisis, South Africans have demonstrated the true meaning of ‘ubuntu’.
We have taken responsibility for each other’s welfare, by donating our time, our energies and our resources.
Working together, we have mobilised the nation’s resources under difficult conditions and in a very short space of time to support poor families, protect jobs and keep businesses afloat.
It has been a year of uncertainty, pain, worry and loss.
Many people have been called upon to make huge sacrifices.
Many have been worried for their jobs, many have struggled to make a living.
Nearly all South Africans have had to spend time separated from their loved ones.
As this year draws to a close, we mourn the loss of relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbours who succumbed to COVID-19.
As a nation, we mourn the loss of several eminent South Africans and people from all walks of life.
Even as we were struck by coronavirus, we had to confront another pandemic that has long plagued our nation.
We mourn the many women and children who lost their lives at the hands of men.
We think of the many more who have had to endure rape and beatings, abusive relationships and sexual harassment.
We think of the many children that have been injured and traumatised by adults – the very people who are responsible for their wellbeing and safety.
And yet, in the face of both these pandemics, South Africans have remained resolute, determined to overcome the coronavirus, and determined to end gender-based violence.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to every South African for the courage and the perseverance with which you have confronted this crisis.
I want to thank the health and social services workers for taking care of people who are ill, hungry or lonely.
Even as the New Year dawns, in hospitals and other health facilities across the nation, committed health workers are caring for the sick in the face of a severe resurgence of infections.
Throughout the year, they have worked tirelessly and at great risk to themselves to care for us and protect us.
We have a duty to protect them from harm and fatigue by acting responsibly, by ensuring that we do not become infected and that we do not infect others.
I also want thank the men and women in our law enforcement agencies and our Defence Force, who are keeping us safe from crime, violence and harm.
In the many ways that COVID-19 affected our lives this past year, one of the most challenging was the disruption caused to learning and teaching in our schools, colleges and universities.
The pandemic threatened the educational development of an entire generation of South Africans.
It is therefore with great admiration and much respect that I salute the learners and the students of 2020 for having continued with their studies under such difficult conditions.
In some instances, they have had to continue the academic year into 2021.
I want to thank the educators, lecturers, administrators and school governing bodies for having worked so hard to save the academic year and to ensure that the young people of our country progress and succeed.
We are grateful to the country’s religious leaders and traditional leaders for having suspended or limited many of their activities during the pandemic.
We are grateful to our sports people and administrators, to our artists and performers, and to all those who have been unable to continue their trade to prevent the spread of the disease.
I want to thank all Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Legislatures, local government councillors and all public servants for having remained at their posts even at the most difficult moments of the pandemic – and for having continued throughout to serve the nation.
We enter a new year ready to rebuild our economy, to revive businesses and restore jobs, and to continue our drive for new investment.
Working together in partnership, we are undertaking an ambitious recovery plan
to build new roads and water projects, human settlements and power generation plants.
We have made important progress in vital economic reforms to ensure we have a secure supply of affordable energy; that we have cheaper, faster and more accessible broadband; and that our ports and railways are more efficient and more competitive.
We are creating public employment opportunities that contribute to the betterment of people’s lives, and providing greater support to the small businesses that drive growth and create jobs.
We are accelerating the redistribution of land and improving the support provided to beneficiaries.
Through this work, we are transforming our economy, enabling more black people, women and young people to participate in, and benefit from, activities from which they had previously been excluded.
Due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, we have had to learn to work, to learn, to trade and to socialise in new and different ways.
We have harnessed technology as never before to keep our economy working, and we need to use the great advances we have made to shape a new world of work that is more productive, more efficient and more focused on the needs of people.
We are just a few hours away from the birth of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which will fundamentally change the economic fortunes of our continent.
It is the start of a new era of trade between African countries, when the continent will produce the goods and services it needs, when its economies will grow, industrialise and diversify, when it will realise the great potential of its abundant natural resources.
I call on the entrepreneurs of our nation to seize the abundant opportunities that this historic development will present to explore new markets and build new partnerships.
This is an opportunity to empower the women of Africa through special trade arrangements, financial inclusion and preferential access to government and private sector procurement.
South Africa’s chairship of the African Union is now coming to an end, just as we also end our term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Through these important bodies, we have championed the cause of peace and development not only in Africa, but across the world.
We have worked to strengthen the multilateral institutions that are so necessary for global cooperation and for the sustainable development of all.
The year ahead will be challenging and difficult.
We are in the midst of a second wave of coronavirus infections, which may be even worse than the first wave.
And while we are greatly encouraged by the progress made in developing an effective vaccine, we know that it will be some time before the pandemic ends.
The year ahead will therefore require our greatest effort and resilience.
The past year has shown what we are capable of when we are united and when we work together for the good of all.
It is this spirit that will carry us into the new year, and which will enable us to prevail and to prosper.
I wish you a happy and healthy 2021.
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 14 December 2020
I was recently sent a photo that featured on the popular #ImStaying Facebook thread. Two women are seated side by side at a bus stop somewhere in Cape Town. One is white, elderly and frail, and rests her head on the shoulder of the younger black woman.
This simple image, of these two women sitting there with their hands locked tightly, resonated deeply with me as we approach Reconciliation Day on 16 December.
It brought to mind the powerful words of Steve Bantu Biko that captured our aspirations for a new country: “In time we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift – a more human face.”
Such a scene, of kindness and compassion, and of two people simply being human, would have been unthinkable in South Africa just over three decades ago.
Under that most insidious manifestation of petty apartheid, the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, only the white woman would have been allowed to sit at that bus-stop, or travel on the bus. A black woman holding a white woman’s hand would have been met with disapproval from the city’s white residents.
It is often difficult to explain to the younger generation of South Africans, who were born to freedom, that apartheid was both brutal and extraordinarily petty. It is difficult to explain the lengths to which the regime would go to keep the races apart, from banning interracial relationships, to creating separate bus stops, entrances to buildings, public toilets, to even segregating beaches.
On Reconciliation Day each year, we reflect on how far we have come in advancing national reconciliation. It is important that we deal decisively with the obstacles to reconciliation, among them the high levels of inequality in our country and the persistence of racist attitudes and practices.
But it is equally important to acknowledge just how vastly different our country is today to what it was 26 years ago. For every negative story of racism that makes the news, there are countless other positive stories of racial integration, communities living in harmony and social cohesion that do not generate headlines.
Many of these can be found on the same #ImStaying thread. They are simple, everyday stories of South Africans living and working alongside each other, being friends, and helping each other.
We know that divisions of race and class remain very real in South Africa, but these stories do show that race relations in our country are not as toxic as we are often led to believe.
Last year’s National Reconciliation Barometer, which is published by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, noted that the optimism of respondents regarding racial unity was the highest since the inception of the study.
It also found that the majority of respondents believed race relations have improved since 1994.
It is noteworthy that most South Africans report they would like to interact more often with people from other race groups but cite language and confidence as the two greatest barriers.
This is ahead of other perceived factors such as lack of common ground, anxiety, or negative prior experiences.
It is obvious that true reconciliation is impossible unless we overcome the social and economic inequalities that persist in our society. It is only when the playing fields of opportunity are levelled and the lives of all South Africans improve that social cohesion will be strengthened.
But we should at the same time not discount the important gestures in our everyday interactions that demonstrate our commitment to reconciliation between the races; and breaking language barriers is perhaps among the most important of them.
Reconciliation is a weighty concept, and there may be many who are unsure as to what they can actually do to advance racial reconciliation. We may feel reticent to take the first step or to reach out, for fear of being judged or even rejected.
On this Reconciliation Day, I call on each of our citizens to think of the simple things they could do to reach out across the racial divide in their everyday lives. One way of doing this is to learn another South African language.
By trying to learn the language of your friend, your colleague, your neighbour or the people you interact with daily in public places, you go beyond just demonstrating cross-cultural understanding. You open up the space for real communication.
We need to find ways to reach beyond our social and professional circles, to appreciate other people’s points of view. Through sporting, cultural and religious activities, we can find ways to interact with fellow South Africans from a diversity of backgrounds.
We should recognise that in addition to the fundamental changes we need to make in the structure of our economy and society, reconciliation can be built through our every-day activities. Madiba saw this in sport, for example, and demonstrated its great potential for nation-building. He said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite in a way that little else does.”
Our response to the coronavirus pandemic has shown that we are at our best when we extend hands of solidarity and compassion to one another.
Now, as we rebuild our society, let us place this spirit of generosity at the centre of our national character.
I wish you all a joyful and a meaningful Reconciliation Day.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
This week, we will be hosting the third South Africa Investment Conference.
Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s conference will be held in a vastly different and immensely more challenging environment than last year.
In April 2018, I announced an ambitious drive to secure R1.2 trillion in additional investments over the next five years. I said that not only is new investment essential to growing our economy, but that it is fundamental to reducing unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Beyond its contribution to national GDP, investment stimulates and supports the growth of local economies, with direct material benefits for our people. It creates work opportunities and full-time jobs, providing people with an income to feed their families and pay for basic amenities. This income gives them purchasing power and enables them to access credit for buying a home or starting a business.
The income they spend on goods and services supports local businesses, including small enterprises. As opportunities are spread and economies grow at a local level, overall economic activity is stimulated, creating a ‘trickle-up’ effect.
Together with infrastructure development and other employment stimulus measures, investment is a key to boosting our country’s productivity and that of its citizens.
In previous years, more than 1,500 delegates attended the SA Investment Conferences. But this year, to allow for social distancing, we expect about 175 delegates to attend in person from listed companies, emerging firms and entrepreneurs, business associations, labour and government. An additional 1,000 online delegates from different parts of the world have registered to date.
The conference will demonstrate that South Africa remains an attractive investment destination, and will show the progress we are making to improve the business climate. It will build on the positive momentum in investment in the years before the onset of the COVID pandemic. Foreign direct investment flows into South Africa, for example, rose sharply from R26.8 billion in 2017 to R70.6 billion in 2018.
Over the last 10 months, the pandemic forced many promising investments pledged at previous conferences to be scaled back or put on hold. But these investments only amount to about one-tenth of the total investment commitment of R664 billion.
Most of the investments are going ahead. Of the 102 projects that were announced at the last two investment conferences, 12 are in the early stages of implementation, 19 have been launched, and 44 are currently under construction or being rolled out.
This year’s conference is about implementation, and on turning commitments into brick and mortar projects in our cities and towns. It will highlight our progress in driving the economic reforms that are needed to unlock investment and growth.
Investor confidence has been boosted by, among other things, the establishment of the Infrastructure Fund. Confidence is also being improved by our continuing implementation of the structural reforms and the finalisation of industry masterplans in sectors such as clothing and textiles, sugar and the automotive industry.
We will be showcasing our strengths as a country and how these can be leveraged to attract new investment.
For example, South Africa has been voted the second most attractive location for business process outsourcing for the third year in a row. With business continuity having been disrupted by the pandemic, we are perfectly placed to capitalise on the growing need of businesses for remote contact centres.
We are positioning ourselves as a hub for digital services. Following the commitment that Amazon Web Services made at last year’s investment conference, the company opened its first cloud data centre in Africa, in Cape Town, earlier this year.
We are already a preferred energy investment destination. Many of the projects implemented through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme have been successful and set an example for many countries around the world.
With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) commencing in January, we want to attract more continental investors into our country and at the same time expand our own investments and the market for our own goods and services elsewhere on the continent. Already, more than a quarter of South Africa’s exports are to other countries in Africa. We expect this to increase as the AfCFTA establishes a continental market of some 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of around $2.3 trillion.
We are not the only country trying to attract investment as part of its economic recovery efforts in the aftermath of COVID-19. This makes our task much harder.
To achieve our goal, we have to work together as government, business, labour and all of society to ensure that the seeds of local and international investment land on fertile soil.
Our national objective is that the investments we secure at the third South Africa Investment Conference must lead to more jobs and improved living standards, and ultimately build the highway that leads to a better, more inclusive future for all.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 30 November 2020
As we continue our efforts to manage the devastating coronavirus pandemic, we cannot ignore the other public health challenges that our country faces.
For more than three decades, our country has been engaged in an ongoing struggle against HIV and AIDS, which has cost many lives and caused great hardship and suffering.
Tomorrow, we will join people across the globe in marking World AIDS Day. As the Chair of the South African National AIDS Council, Deputy President David Mabuza will lead the national commemoration with an address on progress in the country’s response.
This year, World AIDS Day is taking place under difficult conditions.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, with the nation-wide lockdown and the pressure on our health facilities, many HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis services have suffered. This has posed a challenge for people testing and starting antiretroviral treatment. Many people found it difficult to collect their medicines and fewer people accessed other services, such as voluntary male medical circumcision.
At the same time, there are many lessons that have been learnt from our public health response to the coronavirus pandemic that can strengthen our fight against HIV and TB.
South Africa continues to have the largest number of people living with HIV in the world. It is encouraging, however, that over the last decade we made progress in reducing the number of new HIV infections in the population by nearly 60%.
It is also encouraging that HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women have significantly declined in the last decade. This is a crucial group because they are much more likely to be at risk of getting HIV.
Our treatment programme has contributed to a reduction in the number of deaths due to AIDS by 60%. There has been a greater reduction in HIV-related deaths among young people.
It was possible to reduce the number of deaths because we, together with our partners, have rolled out an extensive antiretroviral programme reaching millions of people living with the disease.
At the beginning of the decade, our programme to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV had very low coverage. Now we have one of the highest rates of coverage of PMTCT in Southern Africa, which has substantially reduced rates of infection among children.
While we have reduced deaths and new infections, we still are far from reaching the goal we committed ourselves in 2016 of achieving a 75% reduction in HIV infections by 2020. If we succeed in doing so, we are likely to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Unfortunately, we are not there yet. We have to do far more to ensure that young people are empowered to prevent infections, including through changing behaviour, accessing condoms and testing regularly. We need to make sure that everyone who is infected has access to treatment and care.
We need to work harder on HIV prevention among key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs. We must end the stigma and discrimination towards these populations. We cannot hope to end HIV if we ignore the needs, concerns and rights of any part of our population.
South Africa needs to increase efforts to medically circumcise young men to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV. Unsafe circumcision should not leave young men with lifelong health problems, and no one should die from circumcision. We must make sure that young men have safe circumcision.
We are encouraged by findings of a recent study on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Unlike antiretroviral treatment that is given to people who are HIV positive, PrEP involves the regular use of antiretroviral drugs by HIV negative people to prevention infection. The study, conducted by scientists from the HIV Prevention Trials Network, found that long-acting injections once every eight weeks was better than the daily tablet used for HIV prevention. These findings have the potential to significantly strengthen our response to the epidemic.
If we are to succeed in ending AIDS as a public health threat within the next decade, we need to combine these medical breakthroughs with fundamental changes in behaviour. We also need to tackle the economic and social conditions that contribute to high rates of infection.
One of our central tasks is to empower adolescent girls and young women, educationally, economically and socially. They need to be able to make their own decisions about every aspect of their lives, including their sexuality and sexual behaviour.
As the country marks 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, we need to work even harder to address the unequal relations between men and women – which contribute both to gender-based violence and to the spread of HIV.
Ultimately, we will achieve the end of AIDS through the empowerment of young people, women and other people at risk. This includes empowerment through access to information, advice and support. It includes access to education and economic opportunities, especially for young women. Empowerment also means that every person must have access to testing, treatment and other health services.
The people of South Africa have come so far, endured so much and made such great progress in the fight against HIV, AIDS and Tuberculosis.
On this World AIDS Day, which is taking place in the shadow of another devastating pandemic, let us intensify both our resolve and our actions to confront and overcome AIDS once and for all.
With best regards,
JERUSALEMA (REMIX)” REACHES DIAMOND STATUS IN FRANCE
Master KG scoops yet another win with his wildly successful song “Jerusalema”.
South African hitmaker has reached diamond status in France for his "Jerusalema" remix featuring Burna Boy. The sensational house DJ continues to be a trailblazer after the success of original hit song Jerusalema, featuring Nomcebo Zikode. Nigerian superstar Burna Boy jumped onto the track shortly after the viral #JersalemaChallenge. The news of the diamond certification follows the release of the remix in June of this year. Master KG recently shared the news on Twitter.
This is a big win for Master KG as diamond status is admittedly difficult to reach in France. SNEP, (Syndicat national de l’édition phonographique), France's record industry organisation, requires 35 million streams for a single to be certified diamond. Initially, record sales of over 250 000 were the criterion for diamond status but this has changed due to the increasing digitisation of music. SNEP counts 150 streams as equal to 1 sale.
Source: www.okayafrica.com (Ubuntu Flash- 12/11/2020)