Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address was met with mixed reaction by members of the public, a day after the speech was delivered in Parliament.
Some welcomed government’s focus on improving the economy, service delivery and ensuring that poor performing municipalities are monitored.
Jacob Ntataise, from Midrand, told SAnews that he welcomed the President’s announcements towards improving the economy as that would lead to more job creation.
“If the economy is performing badly, there won’t be job creation, but instead people will be losing their jobs and that will worsen poverty,” he said.
Ntataise agreed with the President that municipalities must be monitored to ensure that there is service delivery on the ground.
The Back to Basics local government revitalisation plan, which was launched in September 2014, has seen intensive implementation in 2015.
The President said on Thursday that in this second phase of implementation, national government will engage in more active monitoring and accountability measures.
This includes unannounced municipal visits, spot checks of supply chain management processes, the implementation of recommendations of forensic reports, site visits of Municipal Infrastructure Grant funded projects, and increased interventions to assist struggling municipalities.
Tidimalo Nkaisano from Centurion in Pretoria said: “What the country needs now is an intervention that leads to job creation. Our country needs to create jobs for the unemployed youth,” she said.
Some of the people interviewed expressed concern that the President did not say much about government’s plans to improve the lives of people.
Yvette Jacobs, a student at the University of Pretoria told SAnews that she worried about the rate of poverty and unemployment.
“The President should have announced some contingency plans to end poverty and create jobs,” she said.
Unemployed Muzi Skhosana, from Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, told SAnews: “We need jobs to survive. Without jobs, poverty will continue to haunt us.”
In his address, President Zuma said a resilient and fast growing economy is at the heart of the country’s radical economic transformation agenda and the National Development Plan.
“When the economy grows fast it delivers jobs. Workers earn wages and businesses make profits,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za
