Despite President Zuma's intimation that his first State of the Nation Address would revolve around the theme of ‘a culture of continuity', in truth it was marked by a very particular and distinct ideological shift towards a socialist agenda.
It is quite clear now that President Zuma's term is office will be defined by a drive to centralise power in the hands of the executive, to dramatically increase social spending and to promote an industrial policy that hinders real economic growth and the creation of jobs but reinforces and strengthens the hand of unions. As a consequence, there is a very real concern that this government will not be able to properly finance its programme of action and that, among other things, our budget deficit will grow significantly.
Within this broad agenda, there were positive initiatives and policy proposals; however, while President Zuma did well to cover most areas of concern in general terms, his speech lacked detail and specificity and failed to properly identify how many of these well-meaning but generic sentiments would be realised in practical terms.
The promise to "reduce the regulatory framework" for small businesses, for example, is a long standing commitment made most years by the ANC government - certainly President Mbeki promised to address this problem - but it has yet to be realised. And that particular commitment pales in comparison when held up against the very real and urgent reforms needed to our labour legislation if we are to create an economic environment in which new jobs are generated on a grand scale.
That said, by admitting that we are facing grave challenges when it comes to issues like HIV/Aids and our skills deficit, President Zuma distinguished himself from his predecessor, who often denied the extent or threat of problems such of those.
Of very real concern to the Democratic Alliance, however, was the President's remark that the ANC government intends to increase its drive to transform the judiciary. Now, more than ever, the judiciary needs to be strengthened, its expertise bolstered and its independence defended and upheld. The ANC's programme of transformation is used by the party as code for control and an excuse to deploy its cadres to key centres of power. The judiciary must remain independent and President Zuma failed to give an assurance that it will not be subverted in the way other public offices, like the Public Protector, have been.
Indeed, President Zuma's failure to acknowledge the damage that cadre deployment has done to the public service more generally or to commit to ending its existence, represents a missed opportunity, one where he really could have distinguished himself from the previous administration.
President Zuma made some important remarks about education, crime, rural development, welfare and South Africa's international role; I will address these particular points in detail in my response to his remarks tomorrow.
Statement issued by Athol Trollip MP, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, June 3 2009
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
