Cape Town – From taking questions on rural development and education to explaining the model of Operation Phakisa, President Jacob Zuma took some time out of his busy schedule to take calls from the listeners of community radio stations across South Africa on Wednesday night.
Through the Department of Communication’s radio service, which aired the interview to 74 community-based radio stations, the President also spoke about the importance of government’s nine-point plan to grow the economy and create jobs, a plan he announced during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month.
A caller from the Western Cape, who only identified herself as Gigi, called in about the recent attacks on businesses owned by foreign nationals, and asked if other countries treated South Africans well when they went into exile during apartheid.
The President said other countries looked after South Africa’s struggle icons very well.
“It is absolutely true, when we were fighting for our freedom, people in different countries looked after us as we were freedom fighters, some were refugees and indeed, when South Africa is free, they have also come to look for opportunities in South Africa.
“I think the issue of us with foreigners has been discussed in public. We have declared very openly, you cannot take action against foreigners simply because they are foreigners because they are African and they from the African continent,” he said.
The President made a plea to listeners in affected areas not to turn their backs on foreign nationals, but to welcome them into their communities with open arms.
“I think it needs people who are communicating to say we are not at war, these people looked after us and even if they did not look after us, we are in the African continent and as African leaders in the African Union, we are trying to remove the borders, we are trying to create the infrastructure that we can do trade amongst ourselves,” he said.
Another caller, Melekgwabe from Mamelodi in Tshwane said she has been hearing about Operation Phakisa ever since it was launched, and wanted to know what it is exactly.
The President said this was a new service delivery model aimed at getting various sectors in government to accelerate service delivery in an organised manner in order to produce quick results.
“We have also done it in so far as health is concerned, how the services at the hospitals and clinics are going to be faster and organised in a particular way to prevent people from standing in long queues for the whole day, to have a method to ensure that everybody who comes is attended to immediately.
“We are going to be introducing it in a number of delivery issues that we talk about, a method of doing it quick,” he said.
Another caller, Lerato, later asked the President if government was doing anything to advance development in rural areas through services and job creation.
The President said government’s decision to have a department focus on rural development was the first step that was taken towards improving service delivery in rural areas.
He said several projects had been launched in rural areas like Muyexe in Giyani, where residents also organised themselves as cooperatives to create employment and where services, including sustainable, integrated human settlements accompanied by schools and clinics, amongst other services, were rolled-out.
“We established that department because I felt we always talk about the need for development in rural areas but we were not doing anything.
“This department is doing something in rural areas, but the problem is it cannot reach all rural areas at the same time.
“There are specific projects it has done, in fact throughout the country, in different provinces so it is aimed at dealing with the very issues that Lerato talked about,” the President said.
A caller, who only identified himself as Tshepo, asked the President why government does not increase the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) budget to R15 billion to ensure that all students get access to loan funding.
The President said government had, over the years, tried to increase the budget notably in a bid to make higher education accessible.
President Zuma, who also spoke of his passion for education, said another important matter that needs to be looked at is ensuring that the fund sponsors the poorest of the poor, and that applications be reviewed to ensure that those that can do without the funding in terms of their parents being able to afford tuition are not prioritised.
“NSFAS was very little when we took over. We have grown it within a short space of time to R9 billion.
“We can’t grow it overnight. We did not start by having R9 billion, we have been budgeting for it, increasing the budget, I am sure we will reach R15 billion, we can’t just reach it today.
“The fact that we have got R9 billion, it must tell you Tshepo that we are doing something about it,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
