READ IN FULL: State of the nation address 2023
| Published date | 09 February 2023 |
| Publication title | Business Day: Web Edition Articles (Johannesburg, South Africa) |
We are not defined by the minerals under our earth or the spectacular landscape above it. We are not even defined by the languages we speak or the songs we sing or the work we do. We are, at our most essential, a nation defined by hope and resilience.
It was hope that sustained our struggle for freedom, and it is hope that swells our sails as we steer our country out of turbulent waters to calmer seas.
Even in these trying times, it is hope that sustains us and fuels our determination to overcome even the greatest of difficulties.
Just three years ago, our country was devastated by the worst global pandemic in living memory. Thousands of lives were lost, companies closed, jobs were lost.
Covid19 did not browbeat us into submission or disillusionment. Working together, we overcame that crisis, and we have started to recover. Today our economy is larger than it was before the pandemic.
Between the third quarters of 2021 and 2022, around oneanda half million new jobs were created in our economy.
The presidential employment stimulus has provided work and livelihood opportunities to more than 1million people.
Last year, our matriculants defied the effects of the pandemic to achieve a pass rate of 80% and we congratulate them for that great achievement.
We see this spirit of determination in our artists, musicians, actors, authors and sportsmen and women, who are making waves at home, on the continent and beyond our shores.
Banyana Banyana made us proud when they won the Women's African Cup of Nations tobecome the champions of Africa. Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman have made us proud at the Grammy Awards for their collaboration, Bayethe.
What we have achieved as a nation over the past year, despite our challenges, remind us that the promise of South Africa is alive. The progress we have seen should give us courage as we look to a better future.
And yet, I address you this evening, in homes across the country, many people are suffering, many are worried, many are uncertain and many are without hope. But of this I am certain. Whatever the difficulties of the moment, whatever crises we face, we will rise to meet them together and, together, we will overcome them.
This we will be able to do if we work together and leave noone behind. We gather here at a time of crisis.
Our country has, for many months, endured a debilitating electricity shortage that hascaused immense damage to our economy.
And for two years before that, our society was devastated by the Covid19 pandemic that caused great loss of life and much hardship. The pandemic worsened a situation of deep unemployment, as the country lost 2million jobs.
The pandemic negatively affected livelihoods and increased poverty. In July 2021, we experienced the worst public violence and destruction in the history of our democracy, causing over 300 deaths. Last year, parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZuluNatal and North West were struck by catastrophic flooding that caused extensive loss of life, the destruction of homes and damage to infrastructure.
And now, persistent loadshedding is impeding our recovery from the effects of these events.
We know that without a reliable supply of electricity, businesses cannot grow, assembly lines cannot run, crops cannot be irrigated and basic services are interrupted.
Loadshedding means that households and supermarkets are unable to keep food fresh, water supply is often disrupted, traffic lights do not work, streets are not lit at night.
Without a reliable supply of electricity our efforts to grow an inclusive economy that creates jobs and reduces poverty will not succeed.
Agenda for the year ahead
Therefore, as we outline our agenda for the year ahead, our most immediate task is to dramatically reduce the severity of loadshedding in the coming months and ultimately end loadshedding altogether.
Under these conditions, we cannot proceed as we usually would.
The people of South Africa want action, they want solutions and they want government to work for them. They simply want to know when a problem like loadshedding will be brought to an end. We are therefore focused on those actions that will make a meaningful difference now, that will enable real progress within the next year and that will lay a foundation for a sustained recovery into the future.
We are not presenting new plans, nor are we outlining here the full programme of government. Rather we are concentrating on those issues that concern South Africans the most:
* Loadshedding
* Unemployment
* Poverty
* Rising cost of living
* Crime and corruption.
There are no easy solutions to any of these challenges.
Yet we have the strength, the means and the wherewithal to overcome them.
If we work together and act boldly and decisively, leaving noone behind, we will be able to resolve our challenges.
This state of the nation address is about seeing hope where there is despair. It is about showing a way out of these crises. This evening, we will give an account of our progress in implementing the commitments wemade in last year's state of the nation address.
Over the course of the last year, we have laid a firm foundation based on the commitments we made for faster growth through our investment drive, economic reforms, public employment programmes and an expanding infrastructure programme.
What is clear from our experience of the last few years — indeed from our history as a democracy — is that we are not a people easily resigned to our fate.
When we faced the greatest challenge of apartheid, we did not submit to the oppression that the apartheid regime imposed on our people. We stood firm and engaged in a struggle, hopeful that our cause would triumph. And it did.
Against all odds we were able to defeat the apartheid system. We can and we will change the circumstances in which we find ourselves today. We are both able and determined to overcome these difficulties and place our economy on a firm path to recovery. Our most immediate priority is to restore energy security. We are in the grip of a profound energy crisis, the seeds of which were planted many yearsago.
We cannot undo the mistakes that were made in the past, the capacity that was not built, the damage that was done to our power plants due to a lack of maintenance, or the effects ofstate capture on our institutions.
What we can do is to fix the problem today, to keep the lights on tomorrow and for generations to come.
In July last year, I announced a clear action plan to address the energy crisis. This was to address the electricity shortfall of 4,000MW to 6,000MW.
The plan outlined five key interventions:
First, fix Eskom's coalfired power stations and improve the availability of existing supply.
Second, enable and accelerate private investment in generation capacity.
Third, accelerate procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage.
Fourth, unleash businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar.
Fifth, fundamentally transform the electricity sector to achieve longterm energy security.
Experts agree that this plan is the most realistic route to end loadshedding. During the last six months, we have made important progress in implementing the plan.
We have taken steps to improve the performance of Eskom's existing power stations so that the coalfired power stations that provide 80% of our electricity produce the amount of electricity for which they were designed.
Under its new board, Eskom is deploying people and resources to improve the reliability of the six power stations that have contributed the most to loadshedding.
Eskom is urgently fasttracking construction of a temporary solution to bring back three units at Kusile power station after the collapse of a chimney stack last year, whilst simultaneously repairing the permanent structure.
We are rebuilding the skills that have been lost and have already recruited skilled personnel at senior levels to be deployed at underperforming power stations.
The Engineering Council of SA has offered to give as much assistance as required by deploying engineers to work with the management teams at power stations.
We have deep skills and expertise right here in South Africa — we just need to use them.
Eskom debt
National Treasury is finalising a solution to Eskom's R400bn debt burden in a manner that is equitable and fair to all stakeholders, which will enable the utility to make necessary investments in maintenance and transmission.
Government will support Eskom to secure additional funding to purchase diesel for the rest of the financial year. This should reduce the severity of loadshedding as Eskom will be able to use its dieselrun plants when the system is under strain.
Eskom has launched a programme to buy excess power from private generators and has already secured 300MW from our neighbouring countries. The SA Police Service has established a dedicated team with senior leadership to deal with the pervasive corruption and theft at several power stations that has contributed to the poor performance of these stations. Intelligencedriven operations at Eskomrelated sites have so far resulted in 43 arrests.
As part of the broader reform process, the restructuring of Eskom that we previously announced is proceeding and the National Transmission Company will be soon operational with an independent board. Later this year, we will table the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill to transform the energy sector and establish a competitive electricity market.
As indicated in July last year, and with a view to addressing the loadshedding crisis, we are going to proceed with the rollout of rooftop solar panels.
In his budget speech, the minister of finance will outline how households will be assisted and how businesses will be able to benefit from a tax incentive.
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