The 10th of February 2011 saw the third State of the Nation address by our president Jacob Zuma at the National Assembly in Cape Town. There has been a lot of buzz that the Speech was somewhat vague and very thin on detail. The State of the Nation address is a platform that sets the tone for the country in key aspects that need to be addressed but nothing on how they will be addressed.
One of Zuma’s main goals is to create ten million jobs in the next ten years, making it one million jobs a year. In the year 2010, “2000 jobs were created”, it sounded as though the President was rejoicing, to me, 2000 jobs is only a milestone and not an achievement and if he is giving himself ten years to create these jobs, then he is behind by a few thousands. In the 2009 Budget Speech, Zuma promised 500 000 jobs but failed to tell the voters that those jobs were not permanent and had no benefits. This promise has not yet materialized.
“We have come a long way since 1994 and [have] achieved a lot but [we] still need to do more”, said Zuma, indeed I agree. The ANC failed to suspend Peggy Nkonyeni, though the corruption charges were dropped. This must be understood in context that in Polokwane, Zuma’s camp did not want the conference to discuss a paper on revolutionary morality.
At this point, you are probably thinking that I am anti ANC/Zuma. I’m not, in fact, I am a member in good standing. I was one of the people who rejoiced when former President, Thabo Mbeki left the presidency. Now, the ANC and the ANYL are at each other’s throats. In 2009, Julius “juju” Malema accused Zuma of not appointing a single African in the economic-financial cluster, “we black people cannot just be reduced to security (portfolios) while the very important issue of the economy is given to minority”, this comment, saw the reshuffling of the cabinet in 2010. Rob Davies, former Minister of Public Enterprise, was condemned as underperforming and replaced by our fellow comrade, Malusi Gigaba, who was slashed by the press after many skeletons were exposed about his involvement in awarding tenders worth millions to his friends.
Mkhethi Sibisi
