President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the State of the Nation Address for the 7th democratic administration under the government of national unity on Thursday.
Don Mthethwa – 7 February 2025
In his opening remarks, the President observed a moment of tribute to the South African soldiers who lost their lives while on a mission to bring peace to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This State of the Nation Address took place as the nation reached 70 years since the adoption of the Freedom Charter, and appeared to be one of Ramaphosa’s most serene postures witnessed by South Africans in response to the growing concerns over the nation’s sovereignty amidst the United States’ growing criticism, with SA’s President insisting that the country will not be coerced into altering its policies against national interests. This row has erupted between South Africa and the US over President Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding to South Africa over its recent land reforms.
“We won’t be deterred, we are resilient, and we will not be bullied. We shall stand together in defence of our national interests and our sovereignty.” Said a defiant Ramaphosa in the national assembly on Thursday evening.
While this is arguably a decisive stance, it gives a stir on resilience being reflected upon the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging experiences, such as the existing process over the recent Land Expropriation Bill, as well as the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill. What evidently sets a tone of renewed hope are the possibilities of a BRICS agricultural trade agreement that lowers tariffs and removes non-tariff barriers to enhance infra-BRICS agricultural trade, as the country’s trade relations are well-balanced. To deflect from the convenient popular view that these laws mirror “open ownership racism”, this could be viewed correctly as the late-January reform does not allow authorities to carry out forced expropriations. Rather, it is a “legal procedure that ensures fair and equitable land access in accordance with the constitution”, with compensation agreements being sought in each case with the original landowners.
The President further mentioned a new cadastral system for mining rights to address one of the major hurdles constraining exploration, mine development and growth of the local mining industry; lots of new funds such as the Transformation Fund and the Employment Stimulus, which are a reflection of the commitment by government to avail jobs and opportunities as well as access to markets, and a concentrated effort to tighten public-private partnerships for the greater benefit of all South Africans through need-for-skill and skills-transfer methods. These methods do not only contribute to the development of our workforce, however they enable a fresh concept of public employment focused opportunities that offer lasting solutions to our prevalent social issues.
This kind of understanding helps us identify the improved efforts towards objectives on inclusivity and to invest in holistic strategies that address the socioeconomic disparities, historical injustices, and systematic disparities contributing to a number of issues confronting our local societies.
In our efforts as South Africans, we need to ensure that these initiatives strengthen community collaboration based on international best practices. We must also adopt a drive that fuels our ambition for global competence that will be supported by our Industrial Policy Framework and blueprint for the industrial economy, amongst others.
