Faizel Patel – 09/11/2020
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa is now in a transition period and on its way to recovery.
Ramaphosa was addressing the nation on Monday in his weekly newsletter “From the desk of the President.”
The president says when the National State of Disaster was declared in March, government’s immediate priority was to contain the spread of the virus and provide emergency relief to citizens, communities, workers and businesses.
“The emergency measures we put in place have laid a firm foundation on which to rebuild our economy. As our focus now shifts to the implementation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, our priority will be to stimulate growth and create jobs.”
Ramaphosa says we must observe the COVID-19 public health guidelines that remain in place to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country.
He says a resurgence at any scale of COVID-19 will not just dramatically reverse health gains, but will “choke the green shoots of economic recovery that have emerged, and take us back from spring to winter.”
“It is all the more critical at this time, more so with the festive season approaching, that we do not become the architects of our own undoing. The greatest vigilance is required from us all to keep the virus at bay. When we fail to wear a mask at a social gathering, when we attend crowded events, we are not only putting ourselves and others at risk. We are also putting our economic recovery in jeopardy.
He says the positive actions of wearing a mask, of maintaining social distancing and of regular hand washing helped us overcome the worst effects of the pandemic and are still our best defence.
Ramaphosa says South Africans should ponder on the sacrifices we all had to make to contain the spread of the virus in the early days.
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