FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 21 June 2021
Dear Fellow South African,
We are now in the midst of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We may be tired of this persistent enemy, but it is not yet tired of us. The threat to health and lives is evident as people become ill and some die. So we must do what we can, as individuals, as families and communities, as unions and employers, and as government, to limit the toll.
When the virus surges to this extent, the economy also faces challenges. Workers have to isolate or quarantine, people stop going out for recreation or shopping, tourism comes to a standstill, and workplaces have to spend more money to prevent infections.
It is incorrect to speak about a trade-off between lives and livelihoods. Rather, we need to invest our time, effort and resources to control the pandemic to see a payoff, in terms of both falling case numbers, reduced deaths and economic recovery.
The climb in new cases has been extraordinarily rapid and steep over the past few weeks. The number of daily new cases jumped from below 800 in early April to over 13,000 in the past week. In other words, it increased more than fifteen-fold from the last low point.
By now, we all know what we have to do to bring the rate of infection down, and we must act with great discipline to protect our people and our livelihoods.
Once again, we have to avoid social gatherings of all kinds, whether for family, friends, business or recreation. We must work from home if we can. We must wear masks when other people are around and stay one and half metre from other people whenever possible. Although we find ourselves in the middle of winter, we need to ensure good ventilation when indoors or in public transport, for instance by opening windows.
As South Africans, we have experienced pandemics before, most notably HIV/AIDS. We have managed to reduce new HIV infections by more than half since 2010. Our people know that we can control contagions, but it requires all of us to act together over time. It is not a task only for the vulnerable or the healthcare system. It requires every South African to do their part, to accept that we cannot go back to pre-pandemic days but must rather build a new normal that is safe for us all.
We can win this battle, but it will take persistence and discipline.
As always with COVID-19, there are huge differences between different parts of the country. Right now, Gauteng is by far the hardest hit. This week the number of new cases exceeded the peak in both previous waves, and it has not started to decline yet. As a result, hospitals are reaching capacity, and healthcare workers are exhausted.
Gauteng looks small on the map. But it is home to one in five South Africans and two-fifths of our economy. As an economic hub many people travel to and from this province. We need to turn this around urgently, or lives and livelihoods will be seriously under threat.
We plan to provide vaccinations for the vast majority of adults in South Africa by the end of the year. It is crucial that, when you become eligible, you get the jab as soon as possible. Our priority in this phase is to vaccinate all five million people over the age of 60. This week, we also plan to start vaccinating half a million educators and others in the sector since their work requires social contact and is vital for our children, our economy and our future.
All of us need to work to ensure a fast and smooth rollout of the vaccine campaign. If our family members, friends, neighbours or employees need help, we should support them in registering and getting to vaccine sites. We will only be able to effectively contain this disease when we succeed in rolling out vaccinations on a large scale.
Our country has experienced many hardships in the past. However, we overcame them by understanding the challenges we faced, developing appropriate strategies, and implementing them together. As we have done before, we need to work as one to prevent infections and reduce the effects of this virus on us.
With best regards,
We are now in the midst of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We may be tired of this persistent enemy, but it is not yet tired of us. The threat to health and lives is evident as people become ill and some die. So we must do what we can, as individuals, as families and communities, as unions and employers, and as government, to limit the toll.
When the virus surges to this extent, the economy also faces challenges. Workers have to isolate or quarantine, people stop going out for recreation or shopping, tourism comes to a standstill, and workplaces have to spend more money to prevent infections.
It is incorrect to speak about a trade-off between lives and livelihoods. Rather, we need to invest our time, effort and resources to control the pandemic to see a payoff, in terms of both falling case numbers, reduced deaths and economic recovery.
The climb in new cases has been extraordinarily rapid and steep over the past few weeks. The number of daily new cases jumped from below 800 in early April to over 13,000 in the past week. In other words, it increased more than fifteen-fold from the last low point.
By now, we all know what we have to do to bring the rate of infection down, and we must act with great discipline to protect our people and our livelihoods.
Once again, we have to avoid social gatherings of all kinds, whether for family, friends, business or recreation. We must work from home if we can. We must wear masks when other people are around and stay one and half metre from other people whenever possible. Although we find ourselves in the middle of winter, we need to ensure good ventilation when indoors or in public transport, for instance by opening windows.
As South Africans, we have experienced pandemics before, most notably HIV/AIDS. We have managed to reduce new HIV infections by more than half since 2010. Our people know that we can control contagions, but it requires all of us to act together over time. It is not a task only for the vulnerable or the healthcare system. It requires every South African to do their part, to accept that we cannot go back to pre-pandemic days but must rather build a new normal that is safe for us all.
We can win this battle, but it will take persistence and discipline.
As always with COVID-19, there are huge differences between different parts of the country. Right now, Gauteng is by far the hardest hit. This week the number of new cases exceeded the peak in both previous waves, and it has not started to decline yet. As a result, hospitals are reaching capacity, and healthcare workers are exhausted.
Gauteng looks small on the map. But it is home to one in five South Africans and two-fifths of our economy. As an economic hub many people travel to and from this province. We need to turn this around urgently, or lives and livelihoods will be seriously under threat.
We plan to provide vaccinations for the vast majority of adults in South Africa by the end of the year. It is crucial that, when you become eligible, you get the jab as soon as possible. Our priority in this phase is to vaccinate all five million people over the age of 60. This week, we also plan to start vaccinating half a million educators and others in the sector since their work requires social contact and is vital for our children, our economy and our future.
All of us need to work to ensure a fast and smooth rollout of the vaccine campaign. If our family members, friends, neighbours or employees need help, we should support them in registering and getting to vaccine sites. We will only be able to effectively contain this disease when we succeed in rolling out vaccinations on a large scale.
Our country has experienced many hardships in the past. However, we overcame them by understanding the challenges we faced, developing appropriate strategies, and implementing them together. As we have done before, we need to work as one to prevent infections and reduce the effects of this virus on us.
With best regards,
President Cyril Ramaphosa
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 14 June 2021
Dear Fellow South African,
In two days’ time we commemorate the fateful events of June 16th 1976, when brave young men and women in Soweto and other parts of the country rose up against the iniquity of Bantu Education.
On that day and in the days that followed, many lost their lives. They were killed by a callous regime that had little regard for black lives and thought nothing of opening fire on unarmed, uniformed schoolchildren.
These events hardened international opinion against the apartheid regime and gave further impetus to the liberation struggle.
Young people have always been at the forefront of social protest, from the anti-authoritarian protests in Latin America in the late 1950s to the May 68 movement in France, to the protests across many parts of Africa in the late 1960s.
History faithfully records the contribution of the generation of 1976 to the international student movement and its stance against oppression and injustice in all its forms.
Since the early 1980s the All Africa Students Union has observed June 16th as African Students Day in tribute to the Soweto students. In 1991 the Organisation of African Unity adopted June 16th as the International Day of the African Child.
As such, this historic event that took place 45 years ago continues to be commemorated across our continent and many other parts of the world.
It is therefore disturbing that knowledge and awareness of the events of June 16th is diminishing among young South Africans. This is particularly so among the so-called Generation Z, or young people born between 1997 and 2015.
The 2019/2020 South African Social Attitudes Survey published by the Human Sciences Research Council found that close to 40% of Generation Z has not heard of the historical events of June 16th. A similar percentage has heard about it but knows very little or nothing about it.
Importantly, the survey also found that young people of this generation are nevertheless open to learning about key historical events and believe in their continued importance.
As the celebrated author Ngugi wa Thiong’o writes, memory is the site of consciousness. And consciousness is the driving force of change.
We need to do more as a country to ensure that the message of this event, of young people taking charge of their destiny and standing up against apartheid rule, is transmitted faithfully.
This is a collective responsibility of government, schools, tertiary institutions, parents, families, musicians, artists, and indeed all of society.
The generation that was born after apartheid ended inherited a country with a democratic Constitution and where fundamental freedoms are protected.
Due to the sacrifices of the 1976 generation, the opportunities young black men and women have today are both vastly different and greatly improved.
Keeping the story of June 16th alive is a reminder to today’s generation of the great sacrifices made to secure their freedom. But it is much more than that.
Youth Day is also a reminder of the immense power and agency that young people have to create a better future for themselves.
The struggles of young people in South Africa today are many. Young people have remained at the forefront of activism, whether in pursuit of free education or against social ills like gender-based violence.
Today the greatest struggle young people wage is against unemployment, something that has worsened under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Creating more opportunities for young people, and supporting young people to access these opportunities, is government’s foremost priority.
Everything that we do as a government contributes towards improving the lives of young people. Tackling youth unemployment requires accelerating economic growth, particularly in labour-intensive sectors, and building the capability of the state to fulfil its developmental role.
We are also driving this agenda through a series of targeted interventions. These include the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which has provided work opportunities and livelihoods support for many young people.
This week, on Youth Day, we will be launching a range of additional measures to create opportunities, enhance skills development, support young entrepreneurs and enable the full participation of young people in the economy.
This includes the establishment of a National Pathway Management Network, SA Youth, to make it easier for young people to view and access opportunities and receive active support to find pathways into the labour market.
These are among the priority actions of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, which was launched just weeks before we entered a national lockdown last year and which is now entering full implementation.
The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention was built on the understanding that to address the youth unemployment crisis requires innovative thinking and strong partnerships across society.
Its ultimate objective is to find models that work, whether in skills development or active labour market policies, and to scale these models rapidly to reach as many young people as possible.
Most importantly, it recognises that young people must be at the centre of any effort to boost youth employment. Young people are our greatest asset, and our greatest weapon in this fight.
As we pay tribute to the youth whose courageous activism won us our freedom, we also salute the resilience of every young person who is playing their part to build and develop this country.
They are the young people volunteering in our communities, building our country through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, running their own businesses and studying to better themselves.
They are the young people who are forging their own path and bringing their families along with them.
We also salute the young men and women who have not given up hope, who keep working to improve their lives.
Young people are doing their part; they need government, and indeed all of society, to do ours.
Our country is going through the most difficult of times, but we are working daily to expand the frontiers of hope.
We are seeing the green shoots of growth in our economy, and are confident this will translate to better opportunities for all. Our task now is to ensure that young people are ready and able to access these opportunities, and to create their own.
This Youth Day, let us continue to work together as a nation to nourish these shoots of growth in pursuit of our common, brighter future.
With best regards,
In two days’ time we commemorate the fateful events of June 16th 1976, when brave young men and women in Soweto and other parts of the country rose up against the iniquity of Bantu Education.
On that day and in the days that followed, many lost their lives. They were killed by a callous regime that had little regard for black lives and thought nothing of opening fire on unarmed, uniformed schoolchildren.
These events hardened international opinion against the apartheid regime and gave further impetus to the liberation struggle.
Young people have always been at the forefront of social protest, from the anti-authoritarian protests in Latin America in the late 1950s to the May 68 movement in France, to the protests across many parts of Africa in the late 1960s.
History faithfully records the contribution of the generation of 1976 to the international student movement and its stance against oppression and injustice in all its forms.
Since the early 1980s the All Africa Students Union has observed June 16th as African Students Day in tribute to the Soweto students. In 1991 the Organisation of African Unity adopted June 16th as the International Day of the African Child.
As such, this historic event that took place 45 years ago continues to be commemorated across our continent and many other parts of the world.
It is therefore disturbing that knowledge and awareness of the events of June 16th is diminishing among young South Africans. This is particularly so among the so-called Generation Z, or young people born between 1997 and 2015.
The 2019/2020 South African Social Attitudes Survey published by the Human Sciences Research Council found that close to 40% of Generation Z has not heard of the historical events of June 16th. A similar percentage has heard about it but knows very little or nothing about it.
Importantly, the survey also found that young people of this generation are nevertheless open to learning about key historical events and believe in their continued importance.
As the celebrated author Ngugi wa Thiong’o writes, memory is the site of consciousness. And consciousness is the driving force of change.
We need to do more as a country to ensure that the message of this event, of young people taking charge of their destiny and standing up against apartheid rule, is transmitted faithfully.
This is a collective responsibility of government, schools, tertiary institutions, parents, families, musicians, artists, and indeed all of society.
The generation that was born after apartheid ended inherited a country with a democratic Constitution and where fundamental freedoms are protected.
Due to the sacrifices of the 1976 generation, the opportunities young black men and women have today are both vastly different and greatly improved.
Keeping the story of June 16th alive is a reminder to today’s generation of the great sacrifices made to secure their freedom. But it is much more than that.
Youth Day is also a reminder of the immense power and agency that young people have to create a better future for themselves.
The struggles of young people in South Africa today are many. Young people have remained at the forefront of activism, whether in pursuit of free education or against social ills like gender-based violence.
Today the greatest struggle young people wage is against unemployment, something that has worsened under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Creating more opportunities for young people, and supporting young people to access these opportunities, is government’s foremost priority.
Everything that we do as a government contributes towards improving the lives of young people. Tackling youth unemployment requires accelerating economic growth, particularly in labour-intensive sectors, and building the capability of the state to fulfil its developmental role.
We are also driving this agenda through a series of targeted interventions. These include the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which has provided work opportunities and livelihoods support for many young people.
This week, on Youth Day, we will be launching a range of additional measures to create opportunities, enhance skills development, support young entrepreneurs and enable the full participation of young people in the economy.
This includes the establishment of a National Pathway Management Network, SA Youth, to make it easier for young people to view and access opportunities and receive active support to find pathways into the labour market.
These are among the priority actions of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, which was launched just weeks before we entered a national lockdown last year and which is now entering full implementation.
The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention was built on the understanding that to address the youth unemployment crisis requires innovative thinking and strong partnerships across society.
Its ultimate objective is to find models that work, whether in skills development or active labour market policies, and to scale these models rapidly to reach as many young people as possible.
Most importantly, it recognises that young people must be at the centre of any effort to boost youth employment. Young people are our greatest asset, and our greatest weapon in this fight.
As we pay tribute to the youth whose courageous activism won us our freedom, we also salute the resilience of every young person who is playing their part to build and develop this country.
They are the young people volunteering in our communities, building our country through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, running their own businesses and studying to better themselves.
They are the young people who are forging their own path and bringing their families along with them.
We also salute the young men and women who have not given up hope, who keep working to improve their lives.
Young people are doing their part; they need government, and indeed all of society, to do ours.
Our country is going through the most difficult of times, but we are working daily to expand the frontiers of hope.
We are seeing the green shoots of growth in our economy, and are confident this will translate to better opportunities for all. Our task now is to ensure that young people are ready and able to access these opportunities, and to create their own.
This Youth Day, let us continue to work together as a nation to nourish these shoots of growth in pursuit of our common, brighter future.
With best regards,
President Cyril Ramaphosa
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA DURING MEDIA BRIEFING ON STATE VISIT BY PRESIDENT MACRON OF FRANCE
Your Excellency President Emmanuel Macron,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
Members of the media,
President Macron and I have just concluded official talks as part of his first state visit to South Africa.
Our discussions focused on the grave challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, global peace and security and relations between our two countries.
The severe impact of the pandemic on human health, on society and on economies has demonstrated the need for international solidarity and strengthened multilateralism in addressing global challenges.
South Africa and France have a shared interest in ensuring that multilateral efforts are effective in ending the pandemic, resuming international travel and commerce, accelerating economic recovery and strengthening public health systems.
This pandemic has shown that disasters of this scale respect no borders and that no one is safe until all of us are safe.
It is for this reason that we must accelerate our collective efforts to ensure that vaccines become a global public good and are made accessible to all countries in the shortest possible time.
As part of these efforts, Africa is working to develop its own vaccine production capabilities and capacity to ensure security of supply.
While funding is key, it needs to be complemented by the transfer of technology and a commitment by international procurement agencies to buy vaccines made in Africa.
President Macron and I share a commitment to make the knowledge related to COVID-19 health technologies and products a global public good.
President Macron and I have further agreed to work towards expanding research, innovation and production beyond COVID-19 to promote public health security in Africa.
South Africa and France enjoy an in-depth, diverse, dynamic and strategic partnership that delivers important benefits for both our nations.
We therefore reaffirmed the importance and the strength of our bilateral trade and investment relationship, and will continue working together to remove obstacles to bilateral and regional trade and investment.
Both countries agreed to work together towards the implementation of the EU-SADC Partnership Agreement and the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
We have recognised the crucial importance of building businesses and entrepreneurs and providing education and skills for the future.
We look forward to France’s continued involvement in the Square Kilometre Array intergovernmental radio telescope project, and its related fields of research and development.
We recognise that the climate change threat, the loss of biological diversity and other global environmental challenges must be addressed with urgency and ambition.
South Africa and France are fully committed to the progressive development of a multilateral response to global environmental challenges, guided by science and the principles of fairness and equality.
We agreed to continue working together towards a prosperous, secure and peaceful future for the African continent.
We re-affirmed the bonds of friendship and solidarity that exist between our two countries, and we look forward to continued collaboration for the benefit of our peoples, our countries, our respective regions and the world.
I thank you.
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
Members of the media,
President Macron and I have just concluded official talks as part of his first state visit to South Africa.
Our discussions focused on the grave challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, global peace and security and relations between our two countries.
The severe impact of the pandemic on human health, on society and on economies has demonstrated the need for international solidarity and strengthened multilateralism in addressing global challenges.
South Africa and France have a shared interest in ensuring that multilateral efforts are effective in ending the pandemic, resuming international travel and commerce, accelerating economic recovery and strengthening public health systems.
This pandemic has shown that disasters of this scale respect no borders and that no one is safe until all of us are safe.
It is for this reason that we must accelerate our collective efforts to ensure that vaccines become a global public good and are made accessible to all countries in the shortest possible time.
As part of these efforts, Africa is working to develop its own vaccine production capabilities and capacity to ensure security of supply.
While funding is key, it needs to be complemented by the transfer of technology and a commitment by international procurement agencies to buy vaccines made in Africa.
President Macron and I share a commitment to make the knowledge related to COVID-19 health technologies and products a global public good.
President Macron and I have further agreed to work towards expanding research, innovation and production beyond COVID-19 to promote public health security in Africa.
South Africa and France enjoy an in-depth, diverse, dynamic and strategic partnership that delivers important benefits for both our nations.
We therefore reaffirmed the importance and the strength of our bilateral trade and investment relationship, and will continue working together to remove obstacles to bilateral and regional trade and investment.
Both countries agreed to work together towards the implementation of the EU-SADC Partnership Agreement and the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
We have recognised the crucial importance of building businesses and entrepreneurs and providing education and skills for the future.
We look forward to France’s continued involvement in the Square Kilometre Array intergovernmental radio telescope project, and its related fields of research and development.
We recognise that the climate change threat, the loss of biological diversity and other global environmental challenges must be addressed with urgency and ambition.
South Africa and France are fully committed to the progressive development of a multilateral response to global environmental challenges, guided by science and the principles of fairness and equality.
We agreed to continue working together towards a prosperous, secure and peaceful future for the African continent.
We re-affirmed the bonds of friendship and solidarity that exist between our two countries, and we look forward to continued collaboration for the benefit of our peoples, our countries, our respective regions and the world.
I thank you.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 07 June 2021
Dear Fellow South African,
Later this week, I will be travelling to the United Kingdom to attend the G7 Leaders Summit. We have been invited as a guest country together with South Korea, Australia and India.
The summit will discuss how to promote future prosperity through free and fair trade, championing shared values and tackling climate change, but the global recovery from COVID-19 is likely to dominate the agenda.
In extending the invitation, the G7 group of countries acknowledge South Africa’s role in driving the continental response to COVID during our AU chairship, and the contribution it can make to global progress.
Much as we are a developing economy and despite facing considerable challenges given rise to by the pandemic on our society, we have done and will continue to do our best.
South Africa can hold its head high among the community of nations because we remain a country that is free and united and determined to succeed.
Gatherings such as the G7 are important opportunities for South Africa to promote its view of a fairer and more peaceful world. They are also an opportunity to promote our country as a destination in which to invest and do business, as a partner for development, and as an ally in resolving the most pressing social and political issues facing humankind. These gatherings also give us an opportunity to promote our continent as a destination for investment.
Our delegation to the G7 Summit will be able to talk about the progress we are making in overcoming the pandemic and the measures we have taken towards our national recovery that are slowly but steadily yielding results.
We will be able to talk about the green shoots of economic progress I spoke of in the Presidency Budget vote in Parliament last week. Among them are the tangible results of commitments made by this administration to resolve challenges that have long hindered our economic growth.
I will be presenting the clear signals that our country is emerging from the devastation wrought by the pandemic. These signals include a strengthening currency, a record trade surplus, and growth in mining, financial services and manufacturing. We can also talk about the lifechanging opportunities being provided to our people through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which has directly benefited nearly 700,000 people since it was launched eight months ago. We can reflect that there is progress towards greater policy and regulatory certainty in important economic sectors such as energy and telecommunications.
The G7 Leaders Summit is an opportunity to seek broader support for the struggle we are waging alongside India and more than 100 other countries to achieve a temporary waiver of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property agreement at the WTO to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. This will enable countries to manufacture their own vaccines and pave the way for the development of a local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in our own country and on the continent.
The message I will be taking to the G7 Summit will be one of hope about the prospects for our country’s recovery, and indeed the global recovery.
But not everyone in this country is ready for that message.
When times are tough, it is easy to be pessimistic.
It is understandable that citizens may be frustrated by the slow pace of change, and feel that our problems appear to be intractable. Our high rate of unemployment, for example, has not improved since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago and was made much worse by the pandemic.
But sometimes we are so absorbed by our shortcomings, that we often fail to acknowledge what we are doing right and where things are improving.
We are making progress in resolving many of our challenges, from corruption to energy shortages to the obstacles that discourage investment. The pace of reform is picking up.
We do not take the patience and resilience of the South African people for granted. We acknowledge our shortcomings as a government and are working to remedy them.
Optimism is the foundation of progress and hope is the companion of development.
Cynical though some among us may be, let the progress we are making in overcoming the immediate crisis motivate us to do even better.
Our democracy was founded in hope where there seemingly was none. We emerged from a desperate situation that threatened to engulf us and built a new nation. Over the last year and a half, we rallied together to fight the pandemic, united in the belief that better days would come.
Throughout the course of our history we have had setbacks and false starts. But our resilient nature allowed us to weather many storms. It is this drive and determination that must continue to propel us forward as our country recovers socially, politically and economically.
Let us look ahead and move forward. Let us nurture the green shoots of progress. Let us not only hope for better days, but let us work even harder to achieve them.
With best regards,
Later this week, I will be travelling to the United Kingdom to attend the G7 Leaders Summit. We have been invited as a guest country together with South Korea, Australia and India.
The summit will discuss how to promote future prosperity through free and fair trade, championing shared values and tackling climate change, but the global recovery from COVID-19 is likely to dominate the agenda.
In extending the invitation, the G7 group of countries acknowledge South Africa’s role in driving the continental response to COVID during our AU chairship, and the contribution it can make to global progress.
Much as we are a developing economy and despite facing considerable challenges given rise to by the pandemic on our society, we have done and will continue to do our best.
South Africa can hold its head high among the community of nations because we remain a country that is free and united and determined to succeed.
Gatherings such as the G7 are important opportunities for South Africa to promote its view of a fairer and more peaceful world. They are also an opportunity to promote our country as a destination in which to invest and do business, as a partner for development, and as an ally in resolving the most pressing social and political issues facing humankind. These gatherings also give us an opportunity to promote our continent as a destination for investment.
Our delegation to the G7 Summit will be able to talk about the progress we are making in overcoming the pandemic and the measures we have taken towards our national recovery that are slowly but steadily yielding results.
We will be able to talk about the green shoots of economic progress I spoke of in the Presidency Budget vote in Parliament last week. Among them are the tangible results of commitments made by this administration to resolve challenges that have long hindered our economic growth.
I will be presenting the clear signals that our country is emerging from the devastation wrought by the pandemic. These signals include a strengthening currency, a record trade surplus, and growth in mining, financial services and manufacturing. We can also talk about the lifechanging opportunities being provided to our people through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which has directly benefited nearly 700,000 people since it was launched eight months ago. We can reflect that there is progress towards greater policy and regulatory certainty in important economic sectors such as energy and telecommunications.
The G7 Leaders Summit is an opportunity to seek broader support for the struggle we are waging alongside India and more than 100 other countries to achieve a temporary waiver of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property agreement at the WTO to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. This will enable countries to manufacture their own vaccines and pave the way for the development of a local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in our own country and on the continent.
The message I will be taking to the G7 Summit will be one of hope about the prospects for our country’s recovery, and indeed the global recovery.
But not everyone in this country is ready for that message.
When times are tough, it is easy to be pessimistic.
It is understandable that citizens may be frustrated by the slow pace of change, and feel that our problems appear to be intractable. Our high rate of unemployment, for example, has not improved since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago and was made much worse by the pandemic.
But sometimes we are so absorbed by our shortcomings, that we often fail to acknowledge what we are doing right and where things are improving.
We are making progress in resolving many of our challenges, from corruption to energy shortages to the obstacles that discourage investment. The pace of reform is picking up.
We do not take the patience and resilience of the South African people for granted. We acknowledge our shortcomings as a government and are working to remedy them.
Optimism is the foundation of progress and hope is the companion of development.
Cynical though some among us may be, let the progress we are making in overcoming the immediate crisis motivate us to do even better.
Our democracy was founded in hope where there seemingly was none. We emerged from a desperate situation that threatened to engulf us and built a new nation. Over the last year and a half, we rallied together to fight the pandemic, united in the belief that better days would come.
Throughout the course of our history we have had setbacks and false starts. But our resilient nature allowed us to weather many storms. It is this drive and determination that must continue to propel us forward as our country recovers socially, politically and economically.
Let us look ahead and move forward. Let us nurture the green shoots of progress. Let us not only hope for better days, but let us work even harder to achieve them.
With best regards,
President Cyril Ramaphosa
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 31 May 2021
Dear Fellow South African,
Today is the anniversary of an event in our history that most South Africans would rather not remember.
Sixty years ago, on 31 May 1961, apartheid South Africa become a republic, cutting its ties with the British Empire. But while a ‘republic’ is generally defined as state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, this was not the case in South Africa.
The Constitution of the apartheid republic pledged allegiance to God, “who gathered our forebears together from many lands and gave them this as their own.”
It was a Constitution written by and for a racial minority, and it used faith to justify tyranny. It outlined the administration of government, providing that only white people were eligible to vote and serve as public representatives. It contained no Bill of Rights.
The country’s majority was relegated to a footnote towards the end of its 121 provisions, in a section titled ‘Administration of Bantu Affairs, etc.’.
In a televised message from the Prime Minister’s residence, now known as Mahlamba Ndlopfu, Prime Minister HF Verwoerd said: “We seek the gradual development of each of our groups in a certain direction. Here the solution is openly sought by retaining the white man’s guiding hand.”
“We are very happy to be a united people,” he declared to the world.
But the reality was that we were not a united people.
We were inhabitants of a country where one’s rights, prospects and life expectancy was determined by one’s race. For two decades, the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act of 1961 was the legal impetus for the repression of nearly ninety per cent of the South African population. It provided legal cover for discrimination, dispossession and exploitation.
This unhappy anniversary takes place in the same month that we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adoption by the Constitutional Assembly of our new democratic Constitution, which became the birth certificate of a real united nation.
Now we have one law for one nation.
Together, we have chosen for ourselves a system of government that gives true meaning to the concept of a republic.
We have said that in our democratic republic, everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.
South Africa today is a country where the administration of justice is vested in independent courts and a judiciary that is subject only to the Constitution. We live in a country where everyone has the right to approach the courts for the fulfillment of their rights.
We live in a country where communities can stake a legal claim on land they were forcefully moved from, and where individuals or families are protected against arbitrary eviction from their homes.
We live in a country where everyone is permitted to freely practice their culture and traditions. It is a country where anyone can freely protest in support of social, political and other causes anywhere.
Our constitutional dispensation is premised on accountable government, where the Executive is answerable to the people and where Parliament is representative of the people. It is a country where the law applies equally to any citizen. We now have a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.
We share a common responsibility, as both the state and citizens, to respect, protect, promote and fulfill the Bill of Rights.
As elected officials we have a responsibility to uphold our oaths of office, and to not steal from the state, engage in corruption, or mismanage resources meant for the benefit of our citizens.
When the apartheid regime triumphantly paraded its racist constitution to the world 60 years ago, it had misplaced confidence that it would endure.
In an unanswered letter to Verwoerd a month before the Republic was declared, Nelson Mandela affirmed the liberation movement’s rejection of the forcibly imposed white republic. He said that no constitution or form of government decided without the participation of the African people would enjoy moral validity.
Indeed no system that entrenches the systematic denial of people’s rights can be sustained. Though it would be over three decades before the demands of the liberation movement were met, we eventually won our freedom.
In relegating the apartheid constitution to the dustbin of history, we committed ourselves to a new constitution and a new set of values.
When I addressed the Constitutional Assembly 25 years ago, I said our Constitution must become more than words on a page; it must become a reality in the lives of our people. Unless we do so, this progressive and revolutionary document will be rendered irrelevant and meaningless.
We have long decided what kind of society we want to be. It is a society rooted in human dignity, equality, freedom and non-discrimination.
For a quarter of a century we have worked to build such a society. We have made undeniable progress, but we still have many challenges and there is much work still to be done.
As we mark the anniversary of the adoption of our democratic Constitution, let us remember what a decisive break it was with the system underpinned by racism, exploitation, dispossession and oppression that had come before. Let us also remember that it is up to us to make the vision contained in our Constitution a reality.
For it is only by ensuring that all South Africans are able to freely and fully exercise their constitutional rights, that we will truly become a united people.
With best regards,
Today is the anniversary of an event in our history that most South Africans would rather not remember.
Sixty years ago, on 31 May 1961, apartheid South Africa become a republic, cutting its ties with the British Empire. But while a ‘republic’ is generally defined as state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, this was not the case in South Africa.
The Constitution of the apartheid republic pledged allegiance to God, “who gathered our forebears together from many lands and gave them this as their own.”
It was a Constitution written by and for a racial minority, and it used faith to justify tyranny. It outlined the administration of government, providing that only white people were eligible to vote and serve as public representatives. It contained no Bill of Rights.
The country’s majority was relegated to a footnote towards the end of its 121 provisions, in a section titled ‘Administration of Bantu Affairs, etc.’.
In a televised message from the Prime Minister’s residence, now known as Mahlamba Ndlopfu, Prime Minister HF Verwoerd said: “We seek the gradual development of each of our groups in a certain direction. Here the solution is openly sought by retaining the white man’s guiding hand.”
“We are very happy to be a united people,” he declared to the world.
But the reality was that we were not a united people.
We were inhabitants of a country where one’s rights, prospects and life expectancy was determined by one’s race. For two decades, the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act of 1961 was the legal impetus for the repression of nearly ninety per cent of the South African population. It provided legal cover for discrimination, dispossession and exploitation.
This unhappy anniversary takes place in the same month that we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adoption by the Constitutional Assembly of our new democratic Constitution, which became the birth certificate of a real united nation.
Now we have one law for one nation.
Together, we have chosen for ourselves a system of government that gives true meaning to the concept of a republic.
We have said that in our democratic republic, everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.
South Africa today is a country where the administration of justice is vested in independent courts and a judiciary that is subject only to the Constitution. We live in a country where everyone has the right to approach the courts for the fulfillment of their rights.
We live in a country where communities can stake a legal claim on land they were forcefully moved from, and where individuals or families are protected against arbitrary eviction from their homes.
We live in a country where everyone is permitted to freely practice their culture and traditions. It is a country where anyone can freely protest in support of social, political and other causes anywhere.
Our constitutional dispensation is premised on accountable government, where the Executive is answerable to the people and where Parliament is representative of the people. It is a country where the law applies equally to any citizen. We now have a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.
We share a common responsibility, as both the state and citizens, to respect, protect, promote and fulfill the Bill of Rights.
As elected officials we have a responsibility to uphold our oaths of office, and to not steal from the state, engage in corruption, or mismanage resources meant for the benefit of our citizens.
When the apartheid regime triumphantly paraded its racist constitution to the world 60 years ago, it had misplaced confidence that it would endure.
In an unanswered letter to Verwoerd a month before the Republic was declared, Nelson Mandela affirmed the liberation movement’s rejection of the forcibly imposed white republic. He said that no constitution or form of government decided without the participation of the African people would enjoy moral validity.
Indeed no system that entrenches the systematic denial of people’s rights can be sustained. Though it would be over three decades before the demands of the liberation movement were met, we eventually won our freedom.
In relegating the apartheid constitution to the dustbin of history, we committed ourselves to a new constitution and a new set of values.
When I addressed the Constitutional Assembly 25 years ago, I said our Constitution must become more than words on a page; it must become a reality in the lives of our people. Unless we do so, this progressive and revolutionary document will be rendered irrelevant and meaningless.
We have long decided what kind of society we want to be. It is a society rooted in human dignity, equality, freedom and non-discrimination.
For a quarter of a century we have worked to build such a society. We have made undeniable progress, but we still have many challenges and there is much work still to be done.
As we mark the anniversary of the adoption of our democratic Constitution, let us remember what a decisive break it was with the system underpinned by racism, exploitation, dispossession and oppression that had come before. Let us also remember that it is up to us to make the vision contained in our Constitution a reality.
For it is only by ensuring that all South Africans are able to freely and fully exercise their constitutional rights, that we will truly become a united people.
With best regards,
President Cyril Ramaphosa