Inspiring wind of change is sweeping SA after Ramaphosa’s bold and positive address

LISTENING to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address gave me hope in a very hopeless situation.

As South Africans, we have been waiting for a long time for your ideas. There seems to be a wind of hope blowing over our beloved country.

There is a fresh air circulating, powering a new perspective and a new dawn in our country, and one can feel the excitement in the air.

What gives me hope in these trying times is the knowledge that there is a precedent for hope. As South Africans have witnessed in 1994, hope has bred change. We’ve learnt through that very historic moment in 1994 that to be hopeless is to disregard the cyclic theory and philosophy of history.

Foreign direct investment in South Africa increased by 446% between 2017 and 2018, according to Business Insider South Africa. This figure increased from $1.38bn in 2017 to $7.81bn.

The president might have his hands full trying to marginalise corrupt elements in his unstable government, but this doesn’t mean that he has not been able to offer confidence to foreign investors.

The rating agencies seem to be trying their best to work with him to assist the country to get back on to a firmer footing.

In his second Sona, the president said the government has identified land parcels owned by the state for redistribution, as part of accelerating land reform. The state has a property portfolio of more than 93 000 buildings and more than 1.9 million hectares of land under the custodianship of the Department of Public Works. It’s about time the government focuses on redistributing land it owns, some of which is unaccounted for, or underutilised.

This is a good move from the president and I give him credit for taking this bold step.

It is my view and belief that ordinary South Africans should give the president a decent chance to play his role in our recovery. Let’s not be negative in this period of hope, as the positive fresh air that is circulating has and can only bode well for our beloved South Africa.

We cannot afford to take our gains in South Africa for granted.

We need to protect what we have fought for and keeping pushing forward. Every struggle in any given space makes a contribution to the collective struggle.

TSHEPO DIALE Nkwe Estate