What is the difference between a'smart' and a'smart'? KEY PROBLEMS/ ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS 2.1 KEY PROBLEMS/ ISSUES Stated from the introduction earlier, South Africa has faced a decline in economic growth rate in recent times. In 2021, the GDP growth rate measured to be 4.7%; in 2022, the growth rate declined to 1.91%; and in 2023, it declined to 0.93%. Excluding the effects of COVID-19, we could attribute this decline in growth to the worsening of electricity availability. In 2021, South Africa experienced about 1165 hours of loadshedding. At the end of 2023 however, South Africa experienced 6947 hours of loadshedding, making it the worst year South Africa has ever experienced loadshedding. With these conditions in effect, it makes running a business so much more of a challenge, as companies must spend even more money on backup generators and solar panels, which would consume even more of their profits. Some businesses were even forced to close down due to the escalating costs of running their company. In 2023 alone, about 1376 businesses closed down, of which was mostly due to loadshedding. With this ongoing crisis of loadshedding, it also makes it much harder for businesses to be able to provide decent work to employees because of budget cuts, and the fact that employees are forced to work with limited access to electricity. The South African education system is currently facing the crisis of poor quality education. As it stands, 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa struggle to read with understanding. Contributing factors to such include an outdated education system being implemented to this day; a high number of unqualified teachers being held responsible for teaching classes full of students (it is estimated that 4 out of 5 teachers in public schools lack the ability to effectively teach); and an alarmingly high inequality in education, where it was reported that students in the top 200 schools get more distinctions in mathematics than the other 6600