State of the Nation Address: President Zuma out of touch with reality
This evening South Africans were looking forward to an honest assessment of the state of our nation. They did not get it.
Instead, they got a speech designed to put a positive gloss on government performance and appease the governing party's alliance partners ahead of the Mangaung elective conference in December.
As a result, the President appeared out of touch with reality.
Instead of acknowledging that 107,000 jobs were lost this year, the President spun the figures to make it appear as if there had been an improvement in job creation.
Despite growing unemployment, the President had nothing new to say - besides spending on infrastructure - about how jobs would be created. It was notable that, as a result of opposition from Cosatu, there was no mention of the wage subsidy he announced in 2010.