Growth, job creation and poverty reduction was the key priorities that President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined as he opened parliament on Thursday
PHOTO: X - @PresidencyZAAddressing a joint sitting of the two houses of parliament
after a grand opening ceremony including a display of military pageantry,
Ramaphosa also listed tackling the high cost of living and cutting red tape
among his administration's goals.
"We are committed to improve the well-being of our
country and its people through inclusive growth, the creation of jobs and the
reduction of poverty," the president told lawmakers in Cape Town.
In his address, Ramaphosa promised business-friendly
reforms, such as an overhaul of the graft-ridden public service, and to
"massively increase" investment in infrastructure.
But the former trade unionist added that growth must be
"inclusive" and "support the empowerment of black South Africans
and women and all those who in the past had been relegated to the fringes of
our nation's economy."
Addressing one of the most sensitive issues in South
Africa, the president also pledged increased funding for reforms that will
transfer state land to communities.
Access to land is one of the priorities of the vociferous
opposition to Ramaphosa's coalition led by the leftist uMkhonto weSizwe (MK)
and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) parties, which demand the expropriation of
land owned by white South Africans.
Impeached judge John Hlophe, an MK official who is leader
of the opposition in parliament, denounced the ruling coalition as intended to
"preserve the current power of white monopoly capital in the economy, give
advantage to white privilege".
Done By: Mitchum George
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