A renewed commitment to uphold government priorities in service delivery
On 8 February, President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the 2024 State of the Nation Address (SoNA) to set out government’s key policy objectives and deliverables for the year ahead. The President uses the SoNA to also highlight achievements, flag challenges and outline interventions that government will undertake to unlock development interventions for the upcoming financial year. The SoNA marks the official start of the parliamentary programme for the year ahead. This year’s address is very significant because, besides it being the last one for the sixth administration, it comes at a time when the country is marking 30 years of democracy.
It is our role as public servants to continue leading and ensuring that set priorities are achieved and quality service is delivered.
In his 2023 SoNA, President Ramaphosa stated that as government, we can change and overcome our difficult circumstances, thus placing our economy on a firm path to recovery.
It is with this clear mindset that we delve into the New Year by continuing our efforts to grow the economy, create more jobs, build better lives, fight corruption, make communities safer and ultimately make government work more efficiently and effectively for all.
With our goals outlined, as leaders in the Public Service, we are able to set concrete and measurable actions to serve our country, including restoring the economy, ending load shedding, tackling crime, improving service delivery and rebuilding public institutions.
While some priorities are long term, government is making strides towards achieving the 2023 SoNA priorities. An immediate and critical priority is restoring our country’s energy security. In a bid to keep the lights on, the Energy Action Plan aims to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding while working to secure the country’s future energy supply. Agreements have also been signed for 26 renewable energy projects with a five-key intervention plan highlighting
fixing Eskom’s coal-fired power stations, improving existing supply, accelerating private investment, procuring renewable energy, and boosting solar power in households.
Tackling youth employment is also at the forefront with the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, creating 50 000 new jobs through the National Youth Service to facilitate selfemployment among young people while boosting in-demand skills. Around 1.5 million new jobs were created between the third quarters of 2021 and 2022. The Presidential Employment Stimulus has also provided work and livelihood opportunities for more than one million people, reaching every province and district in our country.
To further boost investment in small businesses, government has also granted over R900 million in loans to small, medium and micro enterprises, offered business structure and support to cooperative township and rural enterprises, and accelerated the inclusion of women-owned businesses.
To tackle corruption, severe focus has been placed on addressing the 27 recommendations from the State Capture Commission with public tool tracking progress. More than R12.5 billion has been recovered through anti-corruption operations thus far.
Prioritising community safety and ensuring that our citizens, especially women and children are safe, more than R21 billion has been allocated for the National Strategic Plan on Genderbased
Violence and Femicide (GBVF), with the establishment of a GBVF Response Fund, legislation to increase protection of victims and prosecution of offenders, and increased support for Thuthuzela and Khuseleka care centres.
Government has also increased efforts to strengthen the South African Police
Service to prevent crime and improve the capacity of the National Prosecuting Authority and courts to ensure that perpetrators are brought to book. This includes increasing police visibility and placing more police patrols on the streets. In 2022, a total of 12 000 new recruits graduated from police academies, with an additional 10 000 recruits trained in the past year.
It is up to us as diligent and ethical public servants to continue and uphold our commitments, to realise our key priorities and growing an increasingly inclusive economy. The National Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Sector serves as a foundation in rebuilding a qualified and competent public service with more than 70 departments having completed the review process.
I urge all public service to work together, to stay focused and committed to helping us create a better future for all.
Let us continue to do our best to ensure that the priorities set for the year ahead are achieved through embracing innovation and technology. And in doing all this, let us leave no one behind.