"We need to make good on our promise to do better" says Minister Pandor
The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), Naledi Pandor, says South Africa is facing its biggest challenges since 1994.
She was addressing the South African Heads of Missions Conference convened in Pretoria on Tuesday.
In a to-the-point address, Pandor says it is no exaggeration to say that politically and economically the country has truly degraded over the past 26 years.
ALSO READ: Police investigating Grain SA vice chair farm attack
"Politically, economically and on the governance side is it no exaggeration that our country is probably facing the sternest test since the dawn of the democratic dispensation in 1994.
"We are fighting off the possibility of a credit rating downgrade but also we have the duty to revise - with confidence and a positive attitude - a sluggish economy. Even as we push back a high unemployment rate in the face of continued private-sector job shedding," said Pandor.
She added should the South African economy receive a negative rating - it would compound matters.
"By further weakening our capacity to address our structural socio-economic imbalance, to address socio inequality and that of creating conditions that nurture social cohesions, nation-building and democratic citizenship.
"So we must make sure that we avoid the downgrade and make good on our promise that we will change," said a frankly speaking Pandor.