Our plans for the period ahead are focused on the transformation imperatives that will accelerate growth, create work opportunities and build a more equal society.

This Budget lays the foundation for the structural reforms envisaged over the next term of this Government. It sets out the resource plan for an intensified implementation of our National Development Plan. It is tabled in the knowledge that all South Africans will gain from our economic transformation, just as we all share a new pride and identity in our Constitutional democracy.

So the new economic order we seek cannot just be a pact amongst elites, a coalition amongst stakeholders with vested interests. Nor can it be built on populist slogans or unrealistic promises. Our history tells us that progress has to be built on a vision and strategy shared by leaders and the people – a vision founded on realism and evidence.

We have to work together to radically change our economy. This means working with our major businesses so that they sparkle across the globe. It means working with black entrepreneurs to grow their companies across South Africa and beyond, working with small and large businesses to build value chain linkages that support dynamic export oriented, competitive enterprises. It means bringing those who are marginalised into the mainstream of opportunity and activity. It means a better standard of living for all.

Whether you are employed or unemployed, a young person caring for a family yet still going to school, someone looking for experience in order to move on to a better job, looking for skills or needing further education opportunities, working in a government employment programme or a temporary construction project, whether you are an unskilled worker or a young professional looking for opportunities to develop specialist experience – we can, together, move forward towards a better life for all.

It is time for a bold vision of our future as set out in the National Development Plan. It is time for action and implementation. It is time to move South Africa forward to the next stage of our historic journey to more rapid growth, jobs and development – time to leave behind poverty, joblessness and inequality!