SOUTH AFRICA’S NEW UNITY GOVERNMENT TO PRIORITISE INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH

JOHANNESBURG, July 19 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced late Thursday that the country’s new Government of National Unity (GNU) will prioritise inclusive growth, job creation, and poverty reduction.

“We have decided to place inclusive economic growth at the centre of the work of the Government of National Unity and at the top of the national agenda,” he said at the opening of the Seventh Parliament in Cape Town.

Ramaphosa’s address is historic as it coincides with former President Nelson Mandela’s birthday, who presided over a GNU in 1994 during the first democratic government, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

“Our experience over the past 30 years has shown that when our economy grows, jobs are created. When our economy contracts, there is no job creation and jobs are lost,” said Ramaphosa.

He noted that the GNU will pursue every action that contributes to sustainable, rapid economic growth and remove every obstacle that stands in the way of growth.

Ramaphosa added that the government is determined that growth must be inclusive, transformational, and drive the redistribution of wealth and opportunity.

“It must support the empowerment of black South Africans and women, and all those who in the past had been relegated to the fringes of the economy,” he said.

Ramaphosa further explained that the move is part of the constitutional imperative to redress the imbalances of the past caused by apartheid and deal with the slow process of development.

“Inclusive growth demands that we affirm the position of women and youth in the economy. It requires that we remove the social, economic, cultural and other barriers to the full participation of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups in the economy,” he said.

South Africa held national and provincial elections on May 29 where Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC), which ruled South Africa without a coalition for the last three decades, lost its majority.

The ANC reached a deal with nine parties to form the GNU, and Ramaphosa appointed partner members to his Cabinet as ministers and deputy ministers.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU