Ramaphosa might go down in the history books as the president who sold the idea of a booming electric car industry during the most devastating load-shedding period in South African history.
During his State of the Nation Address (SONA 2023), on another dark night in most parts of the country, Ramaphosa told a tale of boosting the electric car industry in South Africa and increasing network connectivity in rural areas where there’s often poor network connectivity. All this and more in a year where his country hasn’t missed a day of load shedding.
In a speech mainly focused on the devastating effects of the lack of electricity in the country, Ramaphosa laid out some ambitious technology-related plans for South Africa. Yes, technology. Which generally relies on electricity that South Africa doesn’t have.
“In the telecommunications sector, the completion of the spectrum auction has unlocked new investment and contributed R14 billion to the fiscus,” says Ramaphosa.
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Remember his high-speed trains ideas during a previous SONA? Well, he did not completely tell an untruthful story. Transnet’s transit may not be the fastest or most efficient since his speech, but they’re definitely better than they were before his speech.
Here are some of Ramaphos’s tech-relates comments from SONA 2023 on Thursday night.