Jacob Zuma refuses to defend his record on jobs 

This weekend, President Jacob Zuma proved that he is running scared in this election. 

He turned down my request, made last week in an open letter, to hold a televised presidential debate about the jobs crisis.

By refusing to debate with me, he is conceding at the outset of the election that he has no solutions to the biggest problem in South Africa. It is not that he will not debate me on jobs, it is that he has very little to say to defend his record. 

He has missed an opportunity to explain how his government would reverse the country's economic decline and get millions of people into work. 

President Zuma has made the claim that he has created jobs. The facts tell a very different story. 

More than one out of every three South Africans is unemployed. Over 1.4 million more people have become unemployed since President Zuma took office in 2009.

The President needs to back up claim that he has created jobs. The public should be have the opportunity to interrogate his track record versus the track record of the DA. 

The president's refusal to hold a debate also undermines democracy.

Mr Zuma must now explain to the South African people why he does not treat them with the same respect for the democratic process as shown by President Joyce Banda of Malawi. 

She is participating in a televised presidential debate with her principal opponents in this year's Malawian general election. 

The success of the DA-led Western Cape government may provide an important clue to why the president refuses to debate.

Where the DA governs, unemployment is the lowest in the country, and the province has the lowest number of discouraged work-seekers.

President Zuma is running scared. He knows that DA will create the same ladders of opportunity if we win office in Gauteng and other provinces. It is time for the voters to pass their verdict on a president who refuses to defend his record.

Statement issued by DA leader, Helen Zille, March 17 2014

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