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2021 SONA

President Cyril Ramaphosa during his SONA on Thursday laid out four pillars that the government is going to focus on for this year; dealing with Covid-19; accelerating economic recovery; creating jobs and inclusive economic growth; and fighting corruption and strengthens the state.

Defeating Covid-19 pandemic
Ramaphosa said the first phase would use the J&J vaccine which had shown to be effective against the second variant of the virus. He said the government has managed to secure 9 million doses; 80,000 doses are due to arrive in SA next week. According to the president, the government has secured 12 million vaccines from the Covax facility to complement other vaccines available to the country, while Pfizer had committed 20 million vaccines to be delivered at the end of the first quarter.

R100bn infrastructure fund is now in full operation.
Ramaphosa said the R100 billion infrastructure fund was in full operation and with a varied pipeline. This included student housing infrastructure aimed at providing 300,00 student beds, and broadband to schools, hospitals, and other state institutions through a project called SA Connects. President also promoted an increase in local production and made local products export worthy and would encourage buyers to prioritise buying locally.

Creating jobs
Ramaphosa said the private sector is the primary creator of sustainable jobs and grow the economy. He said 430,000 had already been supported through the government’s stimulus with over 100,000 more expected to be created.

Attempt in fighting corruption
President Ramaphosa said the government had started with the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy. He further said corruption was one of the biggest impediments to the country’s growth.

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