President Cyril Ramaphosa
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly,
Deputy President David Mabuza,
Honourable members,
Distinguished guests,
Fellow South Africans,
Twenty-five years ago the elected representatives of the South African people gathered in this assembly to adopt the first democratic Constitution in our country’s history.
In welcoming this historic moment, President Nelson Mandela said:
“The new constitution obliges us to strive to improve the quality of life of the people… [O]ur national consensus recognises that there is nothing else that can justify the existence of government but to redress the centuries of unspeakable privations, by striving to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, homelessness and disease.”
It is this obligation that guides, informs and inspires the work of the Presidency.
Our democratic Constitution vests the executive authority of the Republic in the President.
It requires that the President take responsibility, alongside Ministers, for implementing legislation, for developing policy, and for coordinating the functions of state departments and administrations in the interests of the people.