Jacob Zuma’s much anticipated State of the Nation address was his most sombre to date. This was serious stuff – befitting the perilous state of the domestic economy. And, it was the economy that dominated his speech for more than 40 minutes.
Clearly, the penny has now dropped within the higher echelons of government of the severe effects of possible ratings’ agency downgrade will have on the country. And this was apparent from the get-go in the President’s remarks.
Touching on these very concerns, he rattled off a series of broad brush-stroke concerns seemingly a direct consequence of their heightened interaction with business leaders over the past few weeks.
In particular, a reference to the need to provide stable industrial relations clearly sounded written by business interests. Similarly, a mention of the need to combat ‘regulatory blockages’ can be broadly applied in correcting damaging legislative and policy initiatives that retard both foreign and domestic investment.
Not content to stop there, the President outlined the need for an overhaul of State Owned Enterprises (SOE’s) and spoke of austerity in the bureaucracy and a cut in wasteful expenditure. All of this clearly directed at both the Moody’s and S&P of this world – and domestic business interests.
But with it all came little – if any – detail. It was as if there was just no flesh on the bone – and that’s the real problem with the speech. It’s one thing to identify the problems but another altogether to provide some innovative and politically bold policy alternatives to rectify issues.