Fellow South Africans,On this day, 31 years ago, President Nelson Mandela walked out of the gates of Victor Verster Prison a free person, a living embodiment of the resilience and courage of the South African people.For nearly 40 million years, an extraordinary ecosystem has existed here at the southernmost tip of our continent.
The Fynbos Biome, which stretches across the Cape, has among the most distinctive features of any plants found on earth. It can adapt to dry, hot summers and cold rainy winters. It is wondrous in its diversity.Our national flower, the Protea, is a species of fynbos.
When I opened the third National Investment Conference last year, I spoke of the Protea’s unique properties that in so many ways resemble our national character.What is most unique and special about fynbos is that to be sustainable and survive, it needs fire.
At least once every twenty years, fynbos must burn at extremely high temperatures to allow the ecosystem to be rejuvenated and grow afresh.
Throughout the summer, the burned foliage lies desolate. But when the autumn rains return, the seeds germinate, and its life cycle begins all over again. The mountains bloom with new life as plants which once seemed lost grow back even stronger than before.We, the people of South Africa, have over the past year experienced a terrible hardship.Like a wildfire that sweeps across the mountainous ranges where the fynbos grows, a deadly pandemic has swept across the world, leaving devastation in its path.
And yet, like the hardy fynbos of our native land, we too have proven to be resilient in many ways.For three centuries, we were victims of oppression, dispossession and injustice. And for three centuries, we resisted.
The flames of injustice may have scarred us, but they did not consume us.The rains of democracy brought rejuvenation and the birth of a new nation.We have risen time and time again from the depths of darkness to herald a new day.As we look on the grave damage that this disease has caused, we know that like the fynbos, like all those who have walked this land before us, we will rise again.
Nearly a year has passed since South Africa saw its first case of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.Since then, nearly one-and-a-half million people in our country are known to have been infected by the virus.More than 45 000 people are known to have died.Beyond these statistics lies a human story of tragedy and pain.There is no family, no community and no place of work that has not lost someone they knew, worked with and loved. It is also a story of courage and resilience. The resilience of the hospital worker who – day after day, night after night – goes to work to save lives, knowing that they, themselves, are at risk of infection.It is a wonderful account of the courage of the police officer, the soldier, the essential worker, the carer and all those on the frontline, who have kept our country safe, our people fed and our economy going.It is a story of solidarity and compassion.
Of a nation that has stood together to confront COVID-19 in ways not seen since the early days of our democracy.More than anything else, this crisis has revealed the true character of our remarkable nation. It has revealed a spirit of the people who refused to be defeated. It is this South African spirit that must drive our resolve to build a new and more equal economy and a better, more just society.The year ahead must be a time for change, for progress and for rebirth. It must be a year in which we rise.
This is no ordinary year, and this is no ordinary SoNA.I will therefore, focus this evening on the foremost, overriding priorities of 2021.First, we must defeat the coronavirus pandemic.
Second, we must accelerate our economic recovery.Third, we must implement economic reforms to create sustainable jobs and drive inclusive growth.And finally, we must fight corruption and strengthen the State.In the coming weeks, we will address the other important elements of government’s programme for the year.Fundamental to our nation’s recovery is an unrelenting and comprehensive response to overcome the coronavirus.South Africa has just emerged from the second wave of infections since COVID-19 arrived on our shores in March last year.Driven by a new variant of the virus, this second wave was more severe and cost many more lives than the first wave.
Nevertheless, the human cost could have been far greater.Had we not moved quickly to restrict movement and activity, had we not prepared our health facilities, had South Africans not observed the basic health protocols, the devastation caused by this virus could have been far worse.
This year, we must do everything in our means to contain and overcome this pandemic.
This means intensifying our prevention efforts and strengthening our health system.It also means that we must undertake a massive vaccination programme to save lives and dramatically reduce infections across the population.
Earlier this week, we were informed that one of the vaccines that we had procured, the AstraZeneca vaccine, offers minimal protection from mild to moderate infection by the new variant known as 501Y.v2.This is according to early findings of a study by our scientists and researchers.We applaud these scientists for leading this research and providing new evidence that is vital for guiding our response.
Since this variant is now the dominant variant in our country, these findings have significant implications for the pace, design and sequencing of our vaccine programme.While it should not delay the start of the vaccination programme by much, it will affect the choice of vaccines and the manner of their deployment.The first phase of our vaccination programme, which is targeted at health and other frontline workers, will now use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been shown to be effective against the 501Y.V2 variant. We have secured nine million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.The first batch, of 80 000 doses, will arrive in the country next week.Further consignments will arrive over the next four weeks, totalling 500 000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
All provinces have rollout plans in place as the first vaccines come through. I wish to thank all provinces for their level of preparedness for this massive undertaking that we are about to embark upon.In addition, we have secured 12 million vaccine doses from the global COVAX facility.This will be complemented by other vaccines that are available to South Africa through the African Union’s (AU) African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team Facility.Pfizer has committed 20 million vaccine doses, commencing with deliveries at the end of the first quarter.We are continuing our engagements with all the vaccine manufacturers to ensure that we secure sufficient quantities of vaccines that are suitable to our conditions.
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