Covid-19 presents an opportunity to ‘reset’ a crass, materialistic world – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to young people, who have been “a driving force for change” throughout history, and says that young people are telling us that the essential values of integrity, compassion and solidarity must be the hallmarks of the new society that will emerge, and that they are determined to be the champions of this new, better world.

In his weekly newsletter to the nation, Ramaphosa said that, in the past few decades, young people have waged numerous struggles against injustice, from the 1968 student uprising in Paris, to the anti-war movement in the United States in the 1960s, to the anti-colonial struggle in many African and Asian countries, to the fight against apartheid, to the Arab Spring.

“Most recently, young people have been at the forefront of the #BlackLivesMatter movement that has gained global support in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the United States,” he said.