Development Talk

The upcoming State of the Nation Address, which commemorates the opening of parliament, will this year be received with much anticipation.

Indeed, the South African public, civil society organisations, and opposition parties will be preparing themselves to see whether the president will speak to their respective issues, and whether many of the promises made in previous state of the nation addresses will be revisited by way of feedback on his government’s progress.

As such, many of these interest groups will come in great numbers to witness President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address in Parliament’s National Assembly Chamber on the 10 February 2011.

The aim of this address is to give a depiction of what the government has achieved since the last State of the Nation address, and to set the course for President Jacob Zuma’s administration for the upcoming year.

Indeed, President Zuma has already given a hint of what to expect in his upcoming address, especially when one considers the recent events that have led to his speech on the 10 of February. Key to these events have been the African National Congress’ (ANC) “January 8” address, which this year was held at the Peter Mokhaba Stadium in Polokwane and the recent Cabinet Lekgotla.

The focus at both events was charting the progress and strides the ANC-government had made, and the challenges it still faces, but also to chart the way forward in addressing these challenges, which is predominantly what occurred at this year’s Cabinet Lekgotla.

In his January 8 statement, President Zuma stressed the following themes as areas of focus: Job Creation, Health, Education, Rural Development & Land Reforms.

He said, job creation will be the priority in 2011 through meaningful economic transformation. “We have a crisis of high unemployment in our country. It is only by enabling our people to free themselves from poverty, by providing decent and sustainable jobs and opportunities to become entrepreneurs that we will really bring about a better life for all.”

The big question is, what measures is he going to undertake in order to fullfill his promise or where will these jobs comes from?

According to Business Day, government’s new economic strategy and new growth path estimates the 250 000 new jobs in agriculture, 140 000 in mining and beneficiation, 225 000 in tourism, 50 000 in business services and 30 0000 in the green economy by 2020, with many possible jobs in the sector increasing to 400 000 by 2030.

“Infrastructure development could create 250 000 jobs, while employment in the public service would rise 10%.”

It is said that, the ANC also wants to create 100 000 new jobs in the “knowledge” economy and 260 000 in the social economy.

However, this proposal still doesn’t give detailed information on how is his administration going create these jobs. At his address, is he going to give the steps or his plans of creating such jobs?