SONA 2024: Everything you should know

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his eighth State of the Nation Address (SONA) tonight.

Ramaphosa spoke about the millions of young people aged 15 to 24 years who are currently not in employment, education, or training.

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WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT?

“As government we have taken steps to address the youth unemployment challenge.

“Three years ago, building on the success of the Expanded Public Works Programme, we launched the Presidential Employment Stimulus.

“Through this programme, we have created more than 1.7 million work and livelihood opportunities.”he said.

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He said through the stimulus, more than 1 million school assistants have been placed in 23,000 schools, providing participants with valuable work experience while improving learning outcomes.

Through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, we established SAYouth.mobi as a zero-rated platform for unemployed young people to access opportunities for learning and earning.

Over 4.3 million young people are now engaged on the network and 1.6 million have so far secured opportunities.

HERE IS WHAT RAMAPHOSA HAD TO SAY ABOUT CORRUPTION

Ramaphosa made it clear that one of the overriding challenges this administration had to deal with when it took office was state capture and corruption.

“Our first priority was to put a decisive stop to state capture, to dismantle the criminal networks within the state and to ensure that perpetrators faced justice.

“We had to do that so that we could restore our institutions and rebuild our economy.”Ramaphosa said.

According to Ramaphosa, capable people have been appointed with integrity to head our law enforcement agencies, government departments, security services, and state companies, often through an independent and transparent process.

He furthermore said the credibility and efficiency of a number of institutions like the South African Revenue Service have been restored and their performance improved.

“We set up the Investigating Directorate as a specialised and​ ​multidisciplinary unit within the National Prosecuting Authority to investigate corruption and other serious crimes.”

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IS THERE AN END TO LOAD SHEDDING?

Ramaphosa said they have set out a clear plan to end load shedding, which they have been implementing with a single-minded focus through the National Energy Crisis Committee.

“Last year, we implemented a major debt relief package which will enable Eskom to make investments in maintenance and transmission infrastructure and ensure its sustainability going forward.”

According to him, they have connected more than 2,500 MW of solar and wind power to the grid, with three times this amount already in procurement or construction.

This has been the case since they revived our renewable energy programme five years ago.

He furthermore said through tax incentives and financial support, we have more than doubled the amount of rooftop solar capacity installed across the country in just the past year.

THE ENERGY SYSTEM WILL BE REFORMED

We have implemented sweeping regulatory reforms to enable private investment in electricity generation, with more than 120 new private energy projects now in development.

Ramaphosa said our energy system will be reformed to make it more competitive, sustainable and reliable into the future.

“We are going to build more than 14,000km of new transmission lines to accommodate renewable energy over the coming years.

“To fast-track this process, we will enable private investment in transmission infrastructure through a variety of innovative investment models.”Ramaphosa said.

Last year, we tabled the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill to support the restructuring of Eskom and establish a competitive electricity market.

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WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT THE HIGH CRIME LEVELS IN SA?

According to Ramaphosa, the ranks of the police have been strengthened through the recruitment of 20,000 police officers over the last two years and another 10,000 in the year to come.

An extra 5,000 police officers have been deployed to Public Order Policing.

The SAPS has launched Operation Shanela as a new approach to targeting crime hotspots, which has resulted in over 285,000 arrests since May last year.

A new Border Management Authority was launched last year to improve the security of our borders and has already stopped over 100,000 people who tried to enter our country illegally.

THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED

The National Health Insurance will provide free health care at the point of care for all South Africans, whether in public or private health facilities.

We plan to incrementally implement the NHI, dealing with issues like health system financing, the health workforce, medical products, vaccines and technologies, and health information systems.

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