Recovery plan depends on political will

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s recovery plan has come at a time that the country is battling to get out of trouble.

While Ramaphosa confirmed that the plan is underpinned by massive infrastructure projects, worth billions of rand, to create thousands of jobs, linked to that is energy supply security.

Businesses have been complaining about load shedding and the unreliable energy supply.

Key to his speech, Ramaphosa said the plan would focus on infrastructure, energy and localisation to boost GDP.

But he also extended the R350 social relief grant for millions of unemployed people. The president has been applauded for this because many people were already struggling to survive, and the grant alleviated their dire situation.

However, despite all the promises he has made, including creating thousands of jobs, the onus was on him to ensure there was the political will to deliver.

The government has over the years been accused of making promises, but failing to deliver due to a lack of political will.

One of the issues highlighted in the past is that there has not been adequate implementation.

Ramaphosa and his Cabinet ministers are now under pressure from the public to deliver.

But the proof of the pudding is whether this will be done in the next few months.

There is no time, and people are concerned about the rising unemployment in the country.

They are looking at the government to come up with realistic solutions to ease their plight.

Industries are buckling under pressure, and the resources of the state are stretched to the limit. This was also confirmed by the president.

But the work to ensure what Ramaphosa promised would be delivered begins now, and this is the task for all South Africans and lawmakers.

The next few months will tell whether the country turns to the right or left.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said this much when he delivered his Budget early this year, that decisions we made would determine whether we took the road to recovery and growth, or to the scrapheap.

There is no time. But success can be achieved if there is the political will to deliver on all of this in time.