The task ahead is formidable, was the sombre note with which President Cyril Ramaphosa rounded up his second state of the nation address (Sona) on Thursday night.
Turning around the current economic situation was the most immediate task, which he urged all South Africans to help with
Quoting late US president Theodore Roosevelt, Ramaphosa said the task of building a better SA was a “collective” one.
“We should heed the words of Theodore Roosevelt, who said: 'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again...’,” he said.
He described how divisions in society had grown, despite SA's smooth transition to democracy.
"Between black and white, rich and the poor, between rural and urban, between the sexes, and between language groups and cultures. At times it has seemed that the milk of human kindness that allowed us to reconcile in 1994, had gone sour,” he said.
Ramaphosa said SA would not surrender to the “forces of pessimism and defeatism”.
“Our society is anchored in the roots of tolerance and co-existence, and we stand firm, resolute and united against all and everything that seeks to divide us or destroy our hard-won gains. They told us building a nonracial SA was impossible, and that we would never be able to truly heal from our bitter past.
“Yet we weathered the storm, and we are prevailing.”
He said the nation faced a formidable task ahead and above all else, had to “get our economy working again”. He called on every South African to make this cause their own.
“When we succeed — and of this we are certain — it is the entire nation that will benefit. Let us grasp our collective future with both hands, in the immortal words of the Freedom Charter, side by side, sparing neither strength nor courage.”
He once again called on South Africans to be activists in the “Thuma Mina” spirit.
State of the nation 2019
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