President Ramaphosa speaking at the 5th South African Investment Conference on 13th April 2023 made the following statements; “We are now confronted with the consequences of years of under-investment, mismanagement and corruption in our electricity, rail and logistics sector.” and that, “We are on a long journey to rebuild our country and recover ground we have lost. Our recovery is a mission and will take time to accomplish”. He continued that, “The lack of reliability in electricity supply weakens business and consumer confidence, taints international perceptions about our country and affects investment sentiment and decisions” concluding that, “If the focus of our struggle for liberation to end apartheid and achieve political freedom, the focus of our efforts must be to address inequality…
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From policy pronouncements to implementation … a seemingly difficult path!
I was struck that many of the pronouncements by President Ramaphosa in the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SoNA 2022) are noble in intent but fail to address the mechanism by which policy pronouncements become a reality. While it is correct, as the President did, to allude to the consequences of State Capture and the COVID-19 pandemic that have set the country back, these alone cannot be the reasons why South Africa finds itself in the perilous position that it does today. In fact, from the Constitution down this country has some of the most progressive policies and legislation in the world but has failed in many areas to…