President Cyril Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who sought to align his nascent presidency as closely as possible with that of President Nelson Mandela in his inaugural State of the Nation (SoNa) address on Friday night, announced that a jobs summit would be convened in the coming months to allow social partners to come up with "practical solutions" to the country’s high unemployment rate.
Framed under the theme of "hope and renewal", the address was not characterised by the disruptions to which South Africans had become accustomed in recent times. Instead, the mood was joyous and collegial, with a number of Ramaphosa’s points being warmly applauded.
The speech came only a day after Ramaphosa was sworn in as South Africa's fifth democratically elected president. He replaced President Jacob Zuma, whose presidency had become strongly associated with corruption, poor governance and economic decline.
Ramaphosa thanked South Africans for their "patience and forbearance" in allowing the governing African National Congress to "properly manage issues of political transition", which resulted in Zuma’s reluctant resignation late on the night of February 14. As a consequence, the SoNa had been delayed from its initial date of February 8.
Invoking the memory of Mandela, whose centenary will be commemorated domestically and internationally this year, Ramaphosa said that “every action, every effort, every utterance” should be devoted to the realisation of Mandela’s vision of a democratic, just and equitable society.
The jobs summit, he said, would "look at what we need to do to ensure our economy grows and becomes more productive, that companies invest on a far greater scale, that workers are better equipped, and that our economic infrastructure is expanded".
To place the country on a "new path of growth, employment and transformation", the President said a social compact was required to create drivers of economic recovery. "We have to build further on the collaboration with business and labour to restore confidence and prevent an investment downgrade."
A Presidential Economic Advisory Council would also be appointed to "ensure greater coherence and consistency in the implementation of economic policy", as well as to ensure that government was better equipped to respond to changing economic circumstances.
However, the leader of Democratic Alliance Mmusi Maimane questioned whether summits – besides the jobs summit, Ramaphosa also announced that there would be a social sector summit and an investment conference – would provide the remedy to South Africa’s problems.
Speaking on eNCA, Maimane said that, instead of summits, South Africa required decisive leadership and bolder action.
Economic Freedom Fighter commander in chief Julius Malema concurred, suggesting that the President’s reliance on panels, summits and “seminars” was an indication that he had “no plan”.
SOE BOARDS TO HAVE NO PROCUREMENT ROLE
On the revitalisation of South Africa’s State-owned enterprises (SOEs), which were at the epicentre of corruption allegations, the President said government would change the way that boards were appointed “so that only people with expertise, experience and integrity serve in these vital positions.
To strong applause, he also announced that board members would no longer play any role in procurement and that work would be undertaken with the Auditor-General to strengthen external audit processes.
Government would also take further measures to ensure that the SOEs fulfilled their economic and developmental mandates and became more financially self-sufficient.
“We will need to confront the reality that the challenges at some of our SOEs are structural – that they do not have a sufficient revenue stream to fund their operational costs.
“These SOEs cannot borrow their way out of their financial difficulties, and we will therefore undertake a process of consultation with all stakeholders to review the funding model of SOEs and other measures.”