Publications

State of the Nation Address 2023  | President Cyril Ramaphosa

State of the Nation Address (SoNA) by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Cape Town City Hall, Thursday, 10 February 2022

"Tonight is about seeing hope where there is despair, it's about showing a way out of this crisis". On Thursday 9, February South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on a National State of Disaster to provide practical measures needed to provide uninterrupted power supply. This is one of the highlights in addition to the points below.

The key take-aways from President Ramaphosa's speech:

- An Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill will soon be tabled in parliament to allow for a competitive electricity market.

- When it comes to South Africa's Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, 1.5tn will be invested in our economy over the next five years, and will allow for the growth of new sectors such as electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing.

- Government in partnership with SA SME Fund is working to establish a R10bn fund to support SMME growth. Government is looking at the possibility of providing R2.5bn for the fund with the balance of R7.5bn to be raised from private sector.

- During the course of this year, Government will migrate the remaining households to digital television signal and complete the switch-off of analogue transmission. This will release valuable spectrum for the rollout of 5G mobile networks and will reduce the cost of data.

- South Africa assumes the chairmanship of Brics and its focus will be on collaboration, sustainable development, the just energy transition and industrialisation and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

To read the President's full speech, click here .