Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma says government will work harder to improve the pace of service delivery so as to create an enabling environment for economic growth.
Delivering his annual address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) sitting in Soshanguve on Friday, Zuma said the economy will begin to grow faster as the country overcomes bottlenecks in transport, electricity, water and other sectors.
“Although economic transformation will take time, government has put in place complementary policies that boost employment and economic participation. These include the Public and Community Works Programme,” he said.
President Zuma said the Employment Tax Incentive Bill will also help to absorb people into work, especially the youth.
The incentive was first announced by Zuma in 2010 as the “Youth Wage Subsidy” in response to the alarming concerns of the escalating rate of unemployment amongst young people.
“As the global outlook improves, we will also see an improvement in growth and the job opportunities our people can access.
“The National Development Plan (NDP) provides a programme that can unite us as we build a faster growing and more inclusive economy.
“The plan promotes greater competitiveness, expanded public and private infrastructure, vibrant cities in which we all have a stake and stronger rural development.
“It is important that government, business, organised workers and active citizens all collaborate on strengthening development and inclusive economic growth in our country. We have done it before and we will continue to build on these strengths,” he said.
Zuma, who thanked the NCOP for bringing Parliament to Soshanguve, also used the platform to thank South Africans for their contribution to the progress the country has made.
The theme of the sitting is ‘Socio-economic development through oversight and public participation’.
The event marks a culmination of a series of public participation engagements of the NCOP in Gauteng as part of its Taking Parliament to the People programme. - SAnews.gov.za
