- ENERGY
Reality
During an appearance in parliament on Tuesday, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter told a joint sitting between portfolio committees that government’s target of 60% energy availability for the 2023 financial year was not achievable.
SA has consistently been hit by rolling blackouts of up to 10 hours a day, crippling businesses and the economy.
SONA Promise
A national state of disaster was on Thursday night declared to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects. Government will support Eskom to secure additional funding to purchase diesel for the rest of the financial year. This should reduce the severity of load shedding as Eskom will be able to use its diesel-run plants when the system is under strain.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will also appoint a minister of electricity in the presidency.
The minister of finance will outline how households will be assisted and how businesses will be able to benefit from a tax incentive. National Treasury is working on adjustments to the bounce-back loan scheme to help small businesses invest in solar equipment, and to allow banks and development finance institutions to borrow directly from the scheme to facilitate the leasing of solar panels to their customers.
- CRIME and SAFETY
Reality
The latest police crime stats reveal that between April and September last year, 19,516 rape cases were reported. That is an average of 107 rape cases reported a day.
In the same period, about 24,000 cases of serious assault against women were opened. That is at least 131 cases per day. At least 13,428 people were killed, an average of 73 people a day.
SONA Promise
Violent crime takes a heavy toll on every South African. Communities across our country live in fear for the safety of their families. This situation cannot continue.
Government is strengthening the South African Police Service to prevent crime and improving the capacity of the National Prosecuting Authority and courts to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice. This includes putting more police on the streets and setting up specialised teams that will focus on specific types of crime.
Last year, the government recruited 12,000 new police personnel. Since then, more than 10,000 new recruits graduated from police academies and a further 10,000 will be recruited and trained this year. The specialised police teams that are working on tackling crimes like kidnapping, extortion and illegal mining have had several breakthroughs, arresting dozens of suspects and achieving several convictions.
Firm action is being taken to tackle economic sabotage and related crimes that are causing great damage to the economy. Multi-disciplinary Economic Infrastructure Task Teams are now operational in 20 identified hotspots.
- SERVICE DELIVERY
Reality
The auditor-general’s (AG) latest report of municipalities painted a bleak picture of local government, showing that in the 2020/21 financial year, 25 municipalities (10% of SA’s municipalities) received disclaimer audit opinions – the worst audit opinion possible. AG Tsakani Maluleke's audits of key water, sanitation and roads infrastructure projects funded by conditional grants found that half of these municipalities struggled with project management, resulting in delays in project completion which had an impact on service delivery and the lived experience of citizens.
SONA Promise
The poor performance of many local governments remains an area of concern. Too many municipalities, 163 out of 257, are dysfunctional or in distress due to poor governance, ineffective and sometimes corrupt.
Government is implementing a number of interventions to address failures at local government level and improve basic service delivery. These include enhancing the capacity of public representatives and officials, maintaining and upgrading local infrastructure, and invoking the powers of national government to intervene where municipalities fail to meet their responsibilities. A professional public service, staffed by skilled, committed and ethical people, is critical to an effective state and ending corruption, patronage and wastage.
- JOBS and ECONOMY
Reality
Almost 60% of SA’s young people, up to the age of 24, are unemployed. Overall, a third of the country’s working population do not have jobs. At least 11.4-million people applied for government’s R350 assistance grant. More than half of those are people with tertiary qualifications, according to the social development department.
This underscores the country’s job crisis, even among skilled people. While the economy expanded by 1,6% in the third quarter of last year, last month the SA Reserve Bank predicted that the economy, battered by rolling blackouts, would only grow by 0,3% this year.
SONA Promise
Today the economy is larger than it was before the pandemic. Between the third quarters of 2021 and 2022, around one-and-a-half-million new jobs were created in the economy. The Presidential Employment Stimulus has provided work and livelihood opportunities to more than one million people.
In the state of the nation address last year, the government said it would concentrate its efforts on mobilising greater levels of investment, which is essential to growing the economy and creating jobs. It said it would give impetus to the campaign that it embarked on nearly five years ago to raise R1.2 trillion in new investment.
Last year, the 4th South Africa Investment Conference raised R367bn in investment commitments, bringing the five-year investment target firmly within sight. Over the last year, many of these commitments have resulted in the companies that made those commitments investing in new factories, call centres, solar power plants, undersea fibre optic cables, the expansion of production lines and the adoption of new technologies.
Importantly, these investments have resulted in new jobs and new opportunities for small emerging businesses. On the 13th of April this year, SA will hold the 5th South Africa Investment Conference. At this Conference, the government will set a new target to mobilise more than R2-trillion in new investment by 2028.The investments that have flowed into the economy to date have contributed to a substantial increase in local production. These investments have encouraged efforts to buy local.
- COST of LIVING
Reality
The National Agricultural Marketing Council in December said prices of 24 of 28 food items have increased above the Reserve Bank’s 6% inflation target. Prices of onions increased by 47%, followed by apples 32.7%, sunflower oil 28.1%, maize meal 27.0% and Ceylon/black tea 24.3%.
As a result of rolling blackouts, the poultry industry has been severely affected with substantially input costs of up to 70%. The industry has warned that this will have a ripple effect on the price of chicken and eggs.
SONA Promise
The rising cost of living is deepening poverty and inequality. Millions of South Africans are unable to provide for themselves and their families. There is the single mother in Alex, worried about how she will make ends meet as the cost of maize and taxi fares continues to rise. There is the factory worker in Gqeberha who now faces an uncertain future as load shedding brings the assembly line to a halt. It is the job of the state to provide a minimum level of protection below which no South African will fall.
Right now in SA, there are more than 25-million people who receive some form of income support. In addition, around two million indigent households receive free basic water, free basic electricity and free solid waste removal.
Around 60% of the country's budget is spent on what is known as the social wage, providing various forms of support, basic services and assistance to households and individuals to combat poverty and hunger. In support of this work and to counter the rising cost of living, government will continue the Social Relief of Distress Grant, which currently reaches around 7.8-million people. Government will ensure that existing social grants are increased to cushion the poor against rising inflation. This will be set out in the budget by the minister of finance.
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