SONA 2023: What you missed and what you need to know

IF YOU are like me, you wait each year for the president to say his speech and hope it does not impact you. It will undoubtedly impact you this year as we are going through a major energy crisis.

2023 is the year that you may realise that SONA does play an important role in your day to day life and maybe you need to know what is going on.

ENERGY CRISIS

The energy crisis is on all our minds, what is the president going to do? That is the question most South Africans have.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said that his plan is to create a branch of new procedures to address the state’s “existential" power crisis.

This means that the president understands that he had declared a state of disaster but is adding a new electricity minister.

Can we hope this helps?

The president also said that he will create and foster loans and incentives to move us into a solar ecosystem.

Creating an electricity minister is a new step and yes we have to pay for it. So what does it mean? Ramaphosa is creating a new position (funded by us taxpayers) that will deal with this major issue. This person will assume all major responsibility for the shit show that is the electricity crisis response.

Good luck to this person...

So he or she will have to deal with:

• the Eskom board and management on ending load shedding
• Ensuring that the energy action plan is implemented with no delay

Food security

When it came to food security the president was mum.

The president said that load shedding means that households and supermarkets are unable to keep food fresh and water supply is often disrupted.

President Cyril Ramaphosa paid lip service to the looming food security threat announced by sectors from dairy, poultry, crop and vegetable production as well as other vital cogs in the country’s literal food chain.

Small businesses

Businesses and their sustainability was on the president’s agenda.

He said that the Covid-19 "bounce back" loan scheme will be used to help businesses recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The scheme would be used to help entrepreneurs get funding for solar power.

"National Treasury is working on adjustments to the bounce back loan scheme to help small businesses to invest in solar equipment, and to allow banks and development finance institutions to borrow directly from the scheme to facilitate the leasing of solar panels to the customers," Ramaphosa said.

“Last year, we launched the bounce-back loan scheme administered by banks and other financial institutions, and guaranteed by government, for companies that need finance to recover from the effects of the pandemic,” Ramaphosa announced.

“The Department of Small Business Development will work with National Treasury on how the scheme can be strengthened to assist small and medium enterprises and businesses in the informal sector,” he said.

“To address the challenge of youth unemployment, the Employment Tax Incentive has been expanded to encourage businesses to hire more young people in large numbers. Last year I announced that we would be seeking to reduce red tape so that we can rid our country of the unnecessary bureaucracy that often holds us back. The red tape reduction team in the Presidency under Mr Sipho Nkosi has been working with various departments to make it easier to do business. It has taken a collaborative approach, working with departments and agencies in areas such as the mining rights system, tourism transport operator licenses, visas and work permits, early childhood development and the informal sector,” Ramaphosa added.

We can only hope this works...

It should be noted that the president said that through the Small Enterprise Finance Agency – SEFA – sA plans to provide R1.4 billion in financing to over 90 000 entrepreneurs.

Moreover the government (in all her glory) in partnership with the SA SME Fund is working to establish a R10 billion fund to support SMME growth.

Ramaphosa and government is looking at the possibility of providing R2.5 billion for the fund and for the balance of R7.5 billion to be raised from the private sector.

Hospitals and water treatment plants to be exempt from load shedding

Ramphosa said where technically possible, it would enable the country to exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants from load shedding.

"And it will enable us to accelerate energy projects and limit regulatory requirements while maintaining rigorous environmental protections, procurement principles, and technical standards," he said.

Ramaphosa said he will appoint a Minister of Electricity to the Presidency to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response, including the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee.

"The Minister will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan is implemented without delay," he said.

The president said to remove any confusion, the Minister of Public Enterprises will remain the shareholder representative of Eskom and steer the restructuring of Eskom, ensure the establishment of the transmission company, oversee the implementation of the just energy transition programme, and oversee the establishment of the SOE Holding Company.

"The process of restructuring the government will allow us to determine the positioning of various areas of responsibilities and how best the various ministries," he said.

BUSINESS REPORT