SA’s economic recovery efforts bear fruit

Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay

“Phase 2 of Operation Vulindlela is gaining traction. The results of this initiative led by President Cyril Ramaphosa to unlock growth and remove obstacles in areas that impedes on growth are starting to filter through. The President said the immediate task was to grow our economy so that we can create jobs, reduce poverty and improve the lives of all South Africans,” presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya recently said.

He was briefing the media on the snapshot of government’s successes for 2025, which is being measured against the State of the Nation Address (SoNA), delivered by the President in February 2025.

In his address, President Ramaphosa, announced that the Government of National Unity (GNU) had adopted the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) for the period 2024-2029.

The MTDP sets out three key priorities of government: to drive inclusive growth and job creation; to reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living; and to build a capable, ethical and developmental state.

“The green shoots for an economy recovery are visible. Some key indicators are: The rand holding its own against major currencies and has breached the level of R17 to the US dollar.

“Gross Domestic Product grew by 0.5% in the third quarter meaning that the economy is expanding. Much remains in the pipeline to achieve a higher growth rate given its centrality to attaining the country’s developmental aspirations,” Magwenya said.

He noted the Statistics South Africa's report on unemployment for quarter 3 showed that unemployment was down by 1.3 percentage points to 31.9% with the construction sector the major contributor with 130 000 new jobs out of the total of 248 000 new jobs.

Government will spend R1tn over the next three years on infrastructure projects.

“Stability of energy supply is central to this turn around and we should be building on the successes thus far to the next level This year the Youth Employment Service reached the milestone of 200,000 young South Africans funded and placed into quality first-job experiences.

“SA achieved its first rating upgrade in 20 years when the ratings agency, Standard and Poor upgraded the country’s foreign currency long-term sovereign credit rating to BB from BB-. In addition, the local currency long-term sovereign credit rating to BB+ from BB,” Magwenya said.

In addition, the International Monetary Fund lifted its growth forecast for the country to 1.3% in 2025 and 1.4% in 2026 from 1.1% and 1.2% respectively.

“Tourism is on an upward trajectory and the number of foreign visitors increased by 18% year-on-year from 2024. SA Tourism reported that most visitors were from the US (331,378), followed by the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and France.

“The South African Revenue Service has collected a net revenue of R924.7bn by 30 September of this year. This is a year-on-year growth of R78.6bn and an overall surplus of R18bn against its printed estimates,” he said.

Confronting challenges

Magwenya acknowledged government’s challenges while emphasising that government is not afraid to confront them.

“Local government remains a challenge and President Ramaphosa and the Cabinet have met with seven of the nine provincial executives to address key issues in this sphere.

“Accusations of corruption in the criminal justice system are before the Madlanga Commission. The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster is continuously looking at measures to fight crime and keep citizens safe,” the Presidency spokesperson said.

He stressed that the GNU priorities to reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living.

“In this regard, we are particularly seized with intervention on assisting households cope with food price volatility, as well as the measures to make public transport affordable. Rising cost of living has become a challenge in many parts of the world, as we have learnt from the Group Twenty (G20) engagements.

“In conclusion, this is not a review of government, but it is a high-level glance of successes and issues challenges since 6 February 2025.

“Furthermore, the measures introduced by the 6th Administration in 2019 are beginning to bear fruit. The focus is for the GNU to accelerate this process and ensure that the green shoots of the economic upswing gain momentum and touch the lives of all South Africans for the remainder of this MTDP period,” Magwenya said.