WATCH: ‘The year ahead will be difficult’ warns Ramaphosa in New Year’s message

President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned South Africans that 2021 will be a difficult year.

The President delivered his New Years’s message on Thursday as the country marked a muted start to the new year under amended level 3 lockdown restrictions.

Ramaphosa had earlier in the week said that the move to a harsher lockdown level was necessitated by the rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus with the majority of new cases being of the new strain, and citizens generally not adhering to basic health protocols.

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In his address, Ramaphosa said the country was entering the new year “ready to rebuild” but also aware of the fact that it would take time to do so.

On Thursday night, Ramaphosa also remembered Covid-19 victims with a candle-lighting ceremony in the Khayelitsha District Hospital, Cape Town.

Watch the President’s message below, courtesy of the SABC: 

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