Ramaphosa SPEECH

My Fellow South Africans,It is almost exactly two years since I stood before you to announce that South Africa wouldbe entering a nation-wide lockdown to ...

Therefore, while we welcome the fact that more than 68 per cent of people older than 60 years have been vaccinated, we are concerned that only 35 per cent of people between 18 and 35 years have been vaccinated. In deciding which restrictions to ease and which to keep in place, we are guided – as before – by the advice of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19. Knowing that we have to enter a new phase in our management of the pandemic we took time to consult widely with various stakeholders, including religious bodies and traditional leaders. It means that we are returning, as far as possible, to the lives that we lived before the pandemic. It means that we are opening our economy still further, and that we are resuming many of Due to the changing nature of the pandemic, and due to the progress that has been made It just means that we are changing the way we manage the pandemic, and we will be relying It means that we are learning to live with the virus in our presence. We are now ready to enter a new phase in our management of the pandemic. When we were called upon to observe restrictions on movement, gatherings and various activities, as South Africans, we did so, knowing that it is for the sake of our health and lives and the good of the country. It has shattered many livelihoods and devastated our economy, leading to the closure of many businesses and the loss of some two million jobs. But it slowed the spread of the virus so that our health facilities – and indeed our society – had time to prepare for the anticipated surge in infections.