SIFISO MAHLANGU
The Star editor
Johannesburg - The year 2022 is behind us and for many of us this past year was wrinkled with challenges.
Independent Media, The Star’s holding company, was not spared its share of challenges. From fending off a competitive and racialised media landscape to fending off an attempt by the banks to close its accounts, the past year was a battle to stay alive. We’re still here!
The unemployment rate has not changed in spite of the economy returning to pre-Covid 19 levels.
For the most part, 2022 was characterised by global and domestic turmoil. This included imported inflation, record levels of load shedding, industrial action, and political instability. All these factors were enough to negatively affect the country’s annual growth forecasts, which are less than 2% this year.
With the unemployment rate at an alarmingly high rate, load shedding being the worst in more than 10 years, 2022 was not going to be a walk in the park. It required that we muster the strength to fight, to challenge and to confront a political system that simply did not meet service delivery demands.
We come into 2023 knowing that things won’t be easy. We are given a ray of hope of better things to come on the back of a slight decrease in petrol prices, which should be welcomed by South Africans as the prices of this commodity have had a negative impact not only on transport and food but on the ability for most to keep hoping for a better tomorrow.
This reprieve should surely give us a new lease of life.
On the news front, the year began with a blaze in Parliament, followed by the KZN floods that devastated homes and negatively affected the province’s infrastructure. More than 435 people perished in the KZN floods, with some family members still missing to this day. Gauteng also experienced heavy downpours resulting in floods in Soweto, the West Rand and other parts of the province towards the end of the year.
In July, South Africa became a war zone when three tavern killings in one weekend claimed the lives of at least 20 patrons in Soweto, Ekurhuleni and Pietermaritzburg. In the same month, eight young women were gang-raped by alleged illegal miners.
The challenges facing us are many, but the South African spirit of resilience always triumphs. As we look forward to another year of great journalism and storytelling, The Star is grateful for its diverse readership and you, its esteemed reader. We wish you a happy and safe 2023.
The Star