We almost there on unemployment: Zuma

President Jacob Zuma says they are winning the battle against unemployment. The President was delivering his fourth State of the Nation Address on Thursday. “During 2011, a total of 365 000 people were employed. This is the country’s best performance since the recession of 2008,” says the President.

Analysts, opposition parties and Congress of South African of Trade Union have criticised President Zuma for not fulfilling his promise to create 500 000 jobs, promised in his past SONA.

A survey released on Tuesday also heavily criticised Zuma, saying he failed to achieve his objectives. The President acknowledged that the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality continue to persistently affect African, women and the youth.

He, however, says progress is being made in various areas such as health, education, the fight against crime, human settlements, energy, water provision, rural development and others.

He blames the slow growth of employment on the past, saying that “when freedom was attained in 1994, South Africa inherited a problem of structural unemployment which goes back to the 1970s. Employment continued to deteriorate in the 1990s and the early 2000s due to slow growth and declining employment in gold mining and agriculture.”

“Although jobs grew rapidly during the boom of 2003 to 2008, unemployment did not fall below 20%,” President Zuma added.

He said that employment received another setback in the recession of 2009. “Fortunately, Government entered the 2008-2009 reccession with healthy public finances, and a comparatively low level of debt. This allowed for a flexible response to deteriorating economic conditions.”

On his past SONA promises, Zuma says the Job Fund which was announced last year began operating in June. “cOver 2 500 applications were received in the first round. Project allocations of over one billion rand have been committed.”

He also says the R20 billion worth of incentives under Section 12(i) of the Income Tax Act, designed to support new industrial projects and manufacturing, and seven projects with an investment value of R 8.4 billion were approved.

The procurement regulations empowering the Department of Trade and Industry to designate specific industries where local content is prescribed came into effect in December. The sectors include clothing textiles, canned vegetables, leather and footwear, says Zuma.
On the R10 billion to be set aside by the IDC for job creation, Zuma says to date R1.5 billion has been approved for 60 companies to promote job creation.

The President also says progress has also been made in amalgamating small business institutions, and a new entity will be launched this year.

Zuma says the results of the New Growth Path were encouraging, “although we are not out of the woods yet, given the global economic situation.” The Eurozone is currently facing financial crisis which is affecting a number of countries especially developing countries such as South Africa.

He also announced that government has developed a benefication strategy in the mining industry which seeks to provide opportunities in the downstream part of the minerals sector. “We remain committed to the creation of a favourable and globally competitive mining sector, and to promote the industry to attract investment and achieve both industrial growth and much-needed transformation.”

Zuma says there are two main objective which they achieved in 2011 which contributed to governments success in partially solving the job crisis in the country. “Firstly, we mainstreamed job creation in every government entity including state owned enterprises. Secondly, we strengthened social dialogue and cooperation between government, business and the community sector.”

The Accords, signed by government, business and labour on procurement, skills development, basic education, and the green economy, “confirm our common purpose and determination to build this country”.

He encouraged South Africans to work together in solving challenges faced by the country. “Government alone cannot solve the challenges faced by the country, but working together, solutions are possible.”

– By Palesa Kobedi, Parliament