President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday urged fellow South Africans to collectively work towards building an inclusive economy based “on a level playing field.”
Writing in his weekly message to the nation, Ramaphosa said his country’s recession and coronavirus-hit economy needed to follow its development proposals meant to alleviate its current unemployment rate of 30 percent.
According to him, the unemployment rate could soon increase unless South Africa placed more impetus on its plans to pursue “new sources of growth within a fundamentally different context.”
“Many of the areas we had identified before remain relevant and urgent — such as a growing small and medium enterprise sector, and an agricultural sector that delivers food security.
“Some sectors have taken on a new significance. We should, for example, use this opportunity to build a greener economy, with our entrepreneurs entering new fields such as hybrid cars, fuel cells, battery storage and waste beneficiation.”
Ramaphosa said he was confident that plans put in place in February (budget statement) prior to the pandemic hit the country, and those introduced to keep business buoyant during the lockdown, would enable the reconstruction of the economy.
However, this would require help from outside of government and an undeterred commitment to action.
“In all the development proposals put forward in recent weeks, there is a substantial emphasis on improving execution.
“We must look outside the State. We need to bring together the best available local skills, whether in business, academia or civil society to support our common development programme,” the president said.
NM/jn/APA