Ramaphosa: SA will overcome electricity crisis
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government and South Africans need to work together to address the myriad of problems facing the country.
Ramaphosa addressed the official Human Rights Day commemoration in Sharpeville on Thursday.
This year marks the 59th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, where 69 people were killed and scores injured in a protest against the pass laws.
Ramaphosa’s address came amid the country’s electricity crisis, with Stage 4 load-shedding implemented for a sixth consecutive day on Thursday.
Ramaphosa says despite the current crisis, the government has made remarkable progress in providing the country with energy since 1994.
"In 1994, only 36% of the population in our country had access to electricity in their homes. Today 8 out of 10 South Africans have electricity in their homes, yet we are currently facing a severe energy crisis that is having a profound impact on the lives of our people and also on our economy."
The president says that he is working tirelessly to ensure that the country has access to a reliable source of energy, as well as to establish a sustainable model for affordable energy.
"We have confronted difficulties before and in the past. Challenges that have seemed insurmountable were also confronted. And we have also confronted what many people thought were the most intractable challenges and problems but we have always prevailed. We've always prevailed and this we have been able when we have been able to work together and never giving up. We will overcome this electricity crisis that is engulfing our country at this moment. We will overcome it just as we overcame the apartheid challenge, just as we will overcome unemployment, just as we will overcome poverty, crime and corruption. we will overcome because we are South Africans."
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