Zuma focuses on the economy

Zuma focused on the country’s troubled economy during his seventh State of the Nation Address in Parliament.

Zuma said the ANC had set a strong target of five percent growth by 2019, but conceded that South Africa had faced a “difficult” economic period.

“The slow growth has been caused in part by the global economic slowdown and secondly by domestic conditions such as the prolonged, and at times violent strikes, and also the shortage of energy,” he added.

Zuma said turmoil in the mining sector and the constrained electricity supply were hindering the economy.

The economy contracted in the first quarter of 2014 largely due to the crippling wage strike in the platinum mining sector and national power giant Eskom implemented two rounds of load shedding for the first time in six years.

The government would look into the possibility of a national minimum wage as one of the key mechanisms to reduce income inequality.

Zuma said he would also drive plans agreed to in 2012 to improve miners’ living conditions while Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa would lead talks to mend labour relations in the sector.

In response to the country’s energy supply crunch Zuma said, “This situation calls for a radical transformation of the energy sector.”

The country needed to develop a sustainable energy mix of coal, shale gas, nuclear energy and renewable energy to address energy challenges, and fuel the economy. Zuma added that the low level of investment was a key constraint to economic growth and that government was determined to work with the private sector to remove obstacles to investment.

Unveiling the government’s plan for the next five years, Zuma said it would be focused on making the economy grow in order to tackle poverty, inequality and unemployment.

He said building on the success of the Expanded Public Works Programme, which provided work opportunities and training for the unemployed, the new phase would provide six million work opportunities by 2019.

The government had identified agriculture as a key job driver. “Our target is for the agricultural sector to create a million jobs by 2030. Government will provide comprehensive support to smallholder farmers by speeding up land reform and providing technical, infrastructural and financial support.”

Speaking about infrastructure development, Zuma said the government had invested about R1 trillion in new infrastructure during the past five years to provide water, energy, transport, sanitation, schools, clinics and internet connections to the public.

“Over the next three years we will spend R847 billion on the infrastructure and several projects are to be started or completed.”