Zuma's SONA has no new plans to create jobs
17 June 2014
The gap between President Zuma's words tonight and the reality of what is needed to grow the economy is enormous. South Africans continue to suffer from increasing unemployment and a stagnating economy, yet President Zuma claims we are "a nation at work".
We needed decisive action from the President to turn our economy around. Unfortunately his SONA had no new proposals to create jobs and grow the economy.
It is deeply worrying that the President did not directly address the recent downgrading of South Africa's credit rating by Standard and Poor's and Fitch. He also did not directly address the shrinking of the economy in the first quarter of this year.
There was no sense of urgency and no clear plan for the NDP's implementation. The President simply repeated old promises, and recommitted government to tackling problems that should have been overcome long ago. Examples include promises to eradicate mud schools in the Eastern Cape and open toilets in the Free State. These problems were supposed to have been resolved already. It is an indictment on President Zuma that he must yet again promise to tackle these same issues.