{"id":1160,"date":"2025-02-06T16:27:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T14:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:27:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T14:27:55","slug":"economic-growth-job-creation-expected-to-take-centre-stage-in-presidents-sona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/?p=1160","title":{"rendered":"Economic growth, job creation expected to take centre stage in President\u2019s SONA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Economic growth, service delivery, infrastructural development, and job creation are some of the key issues that President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address in his highly anticipated State of the Nation Address (SONA) scheduled for Thursday, 6 February 2025.<\/p>\n

Professor Dirk Kotze from the University of South Africa\u2019s (Unisa) Department of Political Sciences, noted that economic growth will take centre stage in the President\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think first of all, what President Ramaphosa will focus on is, as always, on the economic matters – economic growth; the economic plan that he has developed since 2018,\u201d Kotze told\u00a0SAnews.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In addition, the Professor believes that the country\u2019s commander-in-chief will zoom in on the water and electricity issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, electricity is definitely becoming more of a success story, but he will continue with that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

According to the political analyst, other important areas, including health, education, defence, and Home Affairs, will also be addressed.<\/p>\n

Kotze explained that SONA focuses on the current year and outlines the government\u2019s plans and the legislative agenda for Parliament.<\/p>\n

This includes the introduction of new legislation, as well as a medium-term plan covering the next three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will also refer to some matters that will later be presented in more detail in the budget speech by the Minister of Finance [Enoch Godongwana]. So, these two, the budget speech and the SONA address, are very much linked to each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think one can expect new issues,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In addition, the Professor stated that the President’s address will reaffirm the government\u2019s position on issues, such as climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenewable energy will receive, I think, a lot of attention, given the developments in the US, President [Donald] Trump, who wants to move away from that,\u201d he told\u00a0SAnews<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the analyst, international relations will be specifically addressed, particularly in light of the recent incidents in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<\/p>\n

Several soldiers serving with peacekeeping forces in the DRC have been killed by the M23 rebel group in recent days amid fierce fighting, including 14 members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).<\/p>\n

The recent deadly clashes have intensified in eastern DRC after Kinshasa withdrew its diplomats from Kigali in Rwanda. Rebels have advanced toward the strategic city of Goma, which is rich in minerals.<\/p>\n

The SANDF soldiers are part of the mission which aims to help restore peace, security, and stability in Africa\u2019s second-largest country.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow\u2019s SONA will mark the President\u2019s first SONA as the Head of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in the seventh administration.<\/p>\n

This address holds particular significance as it coincides with the 30th anniversary of freedom and democracy in South Africa, as well as the country\u2019s Presidency of the Group of 20 (G20).<\/p>\n

Tomorrow’s address also marks the official start of the parliamentary programme, which is followed by a debate in the National Assembly and the President\u2019s response to that debate.<\/p>\n

In an interview with\u00a0SAnews<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0on Tuesday, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Kenny Morolong, emphasised the importance of this year\u2019s SONA.<\/p>\n

He noted that President Ramaphosa will be addressing the nation following an election that led to the formation of a GNU, as no single political party received enough support to govern independently.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis SONA will outline the three priorities and strategic direction of the GNU which are to drive inclusive growth and job creation, to reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living, and to build a capable, ethical and developmental State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morolong said it was important for South Africans to tune in and watch the President and hear him deliver the plans of government that he leads, as the Head of State. \u2013\u00a0SAnews.gov.za<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Economic growth, service delivery, infrastructural development, and job creation are some of the key issues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160\/revisions\/1162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}