Although Zuma’s 2014 State of the Nation address, themed 20 years of Democracy, was met with cheers and applause by members of parliament, political commentators and opposition leaders were less than impressed.
Lindiwe Mazibuko, DA’s parliamentary leader, said Zuma’s address showed he was “out of touch” with the suffering of ordinary South Africans.
Zuma highlighted his administration’s successes, which focussed on five priorities, including education, health, the fight against corruption and crime, rural development land reform and creating “decent” work.
According to Zuma, the country’s Gross Domestic Product had grown to more than R3.5 trillion, adding that 15 million people now had jobs in the country – the highest in South Africa’s history. Over 650 000 were created in 2013, according to Stats SA, he added. He specifically referred to the mining industry, which is one of the country’s key job drivers with 500 000 people being employed in that sector.
Mining was the biggest earner of foreign exchange and had contributed R20 billion to the country’s tax revenue.
However, Mazibuko said while the president painted a rosy picture of job creation under his tenure, the reality is very different.
“Today there are 1.4 million more unemployed South Africans than there were on the day he took office,” she said.
Deputy President Kgalema Mothlanthe continued to facilitate talks in the mining sector aimed at stabilising industrial relations, adding that strikes in the sector were fewer and shorter in 2013, he said. However he expressed concern over violent protests and strikes in the mining sector, which threatened the economy.
Referring to education, Zuma noted the rise in the number of children attending Grade R, which more than doubled between 2003 and 2011. He also lauded the rising matric pass rate, which increased to 78 percent in 2013.
On health, Zuma said more than 20 million South Africans had been tested for HIV since the launch of the HIV Testing and Counselling Campaign was launched. He added that significant investment had been made into road, rail and telecommunications infrastructure.
Zuma noted that the rand had depreciated by 17.6 percent against the US dollar in 2013, adding that the weaker exchange rate posed a risk to inflation and would make the country’s infrastructure programmes more costly.
However, Zuma was confident that the country would emerge stronger if “we do the right things”.
Mzoxolo Mpolase, senior political analyst at Political Analysis said Zuma’s address was a balance between selective success in the past year and the past five years, while also placing those successes within the occasion of the 20th anniversary of democracy in South Africa. However, he said it would have been instructive for Zuma to offer a proper and honest account of the past five years, and not gloss over it by conflating the past five years with the entire period since 1994.
Mpolase said Zuma did use the address as an electioneering platform, but added it was a “logical move”.
The constant comparison throughout the speech between life in 2014 and 1994, or even before that, was effectively reinforcing the ANC’s election campaign theme or mantra that life in South Africa is better than it was before 1994, he added.
Independent political analyst, Justice Malala took to Twitter saying: “An election speech. No policy; history”.
“Most positive aspect of #SONA2014 is it underlines policy continuity and certainty in #ANC. No surprises, no new populisms to please masses,” he later tweeted.
