President Cyril Ramaphosa says positive strides have been made to grow the economy in the past thirty years. This is despite the country being dubbed the most unequal society globally by the World Bank and having revised its growth prospects for 2024. “Our economy is today three times larger than it was 30 years ago. The number of South Africans in employment increased from 8 million in 1994 to over 16.7 million now.
Over the last two years, the number of jobs being created has been increasing every quarter and we now have more people in employment than before the pandemic.” President Ramaphosa says dealing with poverty is one of the highlights of the African National Congress (ANC) led government over the past three decades. The address comes two months before the celebration of the country’s 30 years of democracy. Ramaphosa says they have managed to reduce poverty by almost 20 percent since 1993. “Our policies and programmes have over the course of 30 years, lifted millions of people out of dire poverty. Today, fewer South Africans go hungry and fewer live in poverty