By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says phase one of the country’s vaccination program kicked off last week. He said this is the first priority.
To date, we have administered over 52 000 vaccine doses. Further doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be arriving in the coming weeks, reaching an initial total of 500 000,” he said.
Ramaphosa was speaking during a virtual meeting with the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) earlier today.
He said in addition to the 12 million doses South Africa would be receiving through the Covax facility, the country has secured further doses directly from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
“Negotiations with other suppliers are ongoing and we are confident that we will be able to secure the quantities required.
“Even as the vaccine roll-out gathers pace, it will be necessary to continue to wear masks, social distance and avoid crowded, enclosed spaces,” he said.
He said the country has just emerged from a second wave of infections.
Ramaphosa said a second priority is accelerating the county’s economic recovery.
“Our focus on infrastructure investment, public and social employment, localisation, and support to struggling companies and households was reflected in the budget priorities announced by the Minister of Finance this week,” he said.
“We must now do everything within our means to contain further surges. This is vitally important if we are to restore our economy to full operation. In the coming weeks, we will be meeting with premiers, metro mayors and other stakeholders to assess the situation and decide on appropriate measures,” he said.
The president said a critical part of the recovery is to use competition law, procurement and sectoral master plans to create space for new entrants and the development of small, medium and micro enterprise businesses.
Ramaphosa said a third priority is the implementation of economic reforms.
“We have already seen progress in areas that have long been stalled, including the expansion of energy generation capacity, digital migration, critical skills and rail and port development. Through Operation Vulindlela, working with implementing departments and agencies, we expect to see important progress in the coming months. This will help to reduce the cost of doing business and increase the overall competitiveness of our economy,” he said.
A fourth and final priority is to fight corruption and strengthen the state.
“Among other things, we have embarked on a process to professionalise the public service. A series of structured consultations are currently under way on various measures to reduce political interference in administration, ensure more stability in the tenure of senior public servants, and introduce more rigorous requirements for appointment and promotion,” he said.
He added that clear progress has been made in rebuilding law enforcement agencies, ensuring that they are better capacitated and co-ordinating their efforts more effectively. The fight against corruption is gathering momentum.
Ramaphosa also dismissed speculation Tito Mboweni plans on resigning as finance minister.
“I know nothing about a replacement of the finance minister, this is news to me. There is no such plan and intention and there has been no such discussion as well, “Ramaphosa said.
“The minister of finance continues to do his work and he has been doing it extremely well,” he added.