POLL | Are you satisfied with the state of the nation address?

South Africans have reacted to this year’s state of the nation address (Sona) delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday evening.

Ramaphosa addressed several issues in his speech, including the national state of disaster, skills shortages, unemployment and the R350 social relief of distress grant.

He said he and government are working on ending the state of disaster introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

“It is our intention to end the national state of disaster as soon as we have finalised other measures under the National Health Act and other legislation to contain the pandemic.

“Nearly all restrictions on economic and social activity have already been lifted. Vaccines have proven to be the best defence we have against illness and death from Covid-19,” he said.

He also announced the extension of the R350 grant by a year.

“Mindful of the proven benefits of the grant, we will extend the R350 grant for one further year to the end of March 2023. During this time, we will engage in broad consultations and detailed technical work to identify the best options to replace this grant,” the president said.

Ramaphosa also pledged government’s support for businesses to create employment.

“We have been taking extraordinary measures to enable businesses to grow and create jobs alongside expanded public employment and social protection. We all know government does not create jobs. Business creates jobs. About 80% of all people employed in SA are employed in the private sector.”

Ramaphosa was criticised by some for introducing “yet another” task team, this time to look at red tape.

“I have appointed Sipho Nkosi to head a team in my office to cut red tape across government. The red tape team will identify priority reforms for the year ahead, including mechanisms to ensure government departments pay suppliers within the required 30 days.

“The team will also work with other departments and agencies to unblock specific obstacles to investment and business growth. It will support initiatives to simplify processes relating to property registration, cross-border trade and construction permits.”