#SONA2017: Interaction between government, business and labour fruitful, says Zuma

Delivering his State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday evening, Zuma declared 2017 as “the year of unity in action” and said this was the year government would be implementing it plans.

“We were able to address some domestic challenges together. We successfully avoided credit ratings downgrade which would have negatively affected our economy,” Zuma said.

“While global economic environment remains uncertain, we have entered economic recovery. We anticipate an economic growth of 1.3 percent in 2017. However the economy is still not growing fast enough to create more jobs that we need.”

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Zuma said that the government’s 9-Point Plan would deal with creating jobs and opportunities in certain focus areas such as industrialisation, mining, agriculture, agro-process, and others.

He said the labour market was showing signs of stabilising and commended the manner in which social partners carried themselves during wage negotiations in platinum sector and at National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) during the signing of national minimum wage.

“We congratulate the Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and the team at NEDLAC for this milestone and wish them well for work still ahead,” Zuma said.

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