Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma used his sixth State of the Nation Address on Thursday night to highlight government’s achievements under his leadership.
Zuma delivered his last State of the Nation Address ahead of the end of his electoral first term of office.
His address comes at a time when the country is faced with a number of challenges, including strike action, in the mining sector and violent service delivery protests.
As expected, he reported at length on the progress the country’s infrastructure programme since 2009.
He highlighted among the completed projects the Rea Vaya system in Johannesburg, which is now used by more than 100 000 Gauteng residents. Similar systems are being built in Cape Town, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City, eThekwini and Rustenburg.
The country’s harbours and ports have been improved, he said.
“We have built a 700 kilometre fuel pipeline from Durban to Gauteng to transport four billion cubic litres of petrol, diesel and jet fuel a year to 1500 kilometres of new roads or lanes have been built,” said Zuma.
The construction of new rail lines has started in Mpumalanga, to ease the congestion on the roads.
The Gautrain project is now fully functional and carries over 1.2 million passengers a month.
Added to this, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa will spend over R120 billion over the next 10 years to buy new trains and further improve the transport system in the country.
Transnet is implementing a massive R300 billion market demand strategy, building much needed transport infrastructure.
To realise the economic potential of the Western Cape and the West Coast, Zuma said government had launched the Saldanha Industrial Development Zone and opened two new factories in Atlantis.
To improve the water supply, two large new dams were completed, De Hoop in Limpopo and Spring Grove in KwaZulu-Natal, while phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project was expected to be launched soon.
Construction was also continuing at the new power stations such as Medupi in Limpopo, Kusile in Mpumalanga and Ingula near Ladysmith, employing more than 30 000 workers.
“We continue to explore other sources of energy, in line with the Integrated Resource Plan for Energy. The development of petroleum, especially shale gas, will be a game-changer for the Karoo region and the South African economy.”
Zuma’s speech on Thursday evening marked the country’s 20 years of freedom since the historic democratic elections of 1994.
He gave credit to the people of South Africa for making the country strong in these two decades.
“Our country has produced men and women of distinction, who have provided leadership during trying times. We created a thriving constitutional democracy, with well-functioning arms of the state –the legislature, the executive and the judiciary,” he told the joint sitting of parliament.
He said on average, the economy had grown at 3.2 percent a year from 1994 to 2012 despite the global recession which claimed a million jobs.
The national wealth, measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product, has grown to more than R3.5 trillion. There were now 15 million people with jobs in the country, the highest ever in history with over 650 thousand jobs create last year.
But Zuma acknowledged that the unemployment rate still remained high and youth unemployment continued to be of concern.
Government would have to work together with business and labour to grow the economy at rates that are above five percent to be able to create the jobs the country needs.
He said the country still faced the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment, which the country continued to grapple with.
Dealing with these challenges had become a central focus of all democratic administrations.
As anticipated, Zuma punted the National Development Plan as a viable plan to drive South Africa’s socio-economic development for the next coming years. The NDP offers a long-term perspective and aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030.
According to the plan, South Africa can realise these goals by drawing on the energies of its people, growing an inclusive economy, building capabilities, enhancing the capacity of the state, and promoting leadership and partnerships throughout society.
“The plan outlines what we should do to eradicate poverty, increase employment and reduce inequality by 2030.”
Zuma emphasised the need to continue with this progress in order to close the inequality gap between the rich and the poor.
He went on to address several issues ranging from the strikes in the mining sector and how this was affecting the economy of the country.
“We have intervened in mining because it is one of our key job drivers. We need a mining sector that works. Mining employs over half a million people. It is the biggest earner of foreign exchange in our country. It also contributes about R20 billion directly to the tax revenue”.
He addressed several issues, including paying a tribute to the late former President Nelson Mandela, who died in December last year. –SAnews.gov.za
