Observers say it's going to be more of the same from President Jacob Zuma, so we should not expect anything groundbreaking
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There are few expectations and definitely no hope of fireworks from President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address on Thursday, according to opposition political parties and analysts.
In spite of pressing governance issues, including key vacancies in the prosecuting authority and the Special Investigating Unit, damning auditor-general findings on the government having wasted R26.3 billion in unauthorised spending and an uncertain global economy, it appears the expectation is, at best, for statements on education, jobs and poverty alleviation.
It is understood that education and massive infrastructure development - a follow-up from last year’s announcements that state-owned enterprises and development finance institutions must “be more strongly aligned to the job creation agenda” - are to feature prominently.
However, the mood in the run-up to the address at the opening of Parliament appears cautious, perhaps even sceptical, as Zuma delivers his speech in the year the ANC celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Political analyst Prince Mashele said, “It’s going to be mild, it’s not going to be bold”, adding he did not expect anything groundbreaking. “We must just expect a rhetoric around job creation, around poverty alleviation,” he told Independent Newspapers.
“Nobody’s going to take the address seriously because of the uncertainty over the future of this president… We know there are people who are planning to topple him.”
Susan Booysen of the Wits University Graduate School of Public and Development Management said people were hoping, but ANC politics could not be divorced from the address. “It’s an election year for the ANC. This is an inward-looking year… not to take strong decisions. It’s a president who doesn’t like taking decisions anyway,” Booysen said. “It’s not a good year for the State of the Nation address.”
While ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga said “one cannot speculate on the details”, it was expected that there would be a reference to the performance of the government and the need to improve in certain areas.
Appreciation for work done by other agencies could also feature.
“One can expect that the issues of speeding up service delivery will remain on the agenda. The issues of values inherited in the past 100 years and their continued relevance in the new centenary. These issues would be high on the agenda (as would) the whole question of the African agenda,” Motshekga added.
DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said there was always a difference between expectations and hopes - and given the Zuma administration’s inability to make choices, there was little expectation of results from the previous year.
“What we expect is a great deal of politicking around the ANC centenary, blame for the failure to create jobs on the euro zone crisis and a series of policy proposals that will not be followed through,” Mazibuko said.
“What we want to see is the president prioritising skills development and education and an economic environment conducive to job creation.”
Feedback from DA walkabouts this week in Joburg and Cape Town showed that jobs and education were top priorities on everyone’s mind, she added.
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder was adamant the president had a choice “to be paralysed for the rest of the year” until the ANC’s elections in Mangaung or “to give direct leadership”.
And while there were no high expectations, he hoped the president would deliver “hope” and “certainty”.
“We need hope. We need certainty. I hope there are plans to create jobs. We need certainty that (ANC Youth League leader Julius) Malema populism is not the future,” he said, referring to calls for the nationalisation of mines and land redistribution without compensation.
Cope whip Julie Kilian said the address would be “pretty much the same as last year”. The president was “under siege” to appease different factions within the ANC and that would mean statements pretending that everything was fine, when it wasn’t.
“He’s going to try to demonstrate that there was, in fact, delivery, but last year when one analysed the so-called evidence, there was very little. It was all talk and no substance,” she said.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said there was little expectation beyond feedback on progress made since last year - even if there were issues, including the auditor-general’s reports, that the president should touch on. “I’m not putting any pressure. He (Zuma) is the leader,” added Holomisa.
African Christian Democratic Party national chairwoman, MP Jo Ann Downs, said the expectation was for a comprehensive statement around education.
“The bottom line is South Africa’s education system is appalling. Unless we address that we will never get equality,” she said.
In addition, it was vital that there were announcements on small business, as too many South Africans were stifled. One example was that the SA Bureau of Standards had told a South African who made cheaper solar panels there was a two-year waiting time as the bureau was still testing Chinese models. “We are not encouraging home-grown,” Downs added.
The IFP indicated it would first have to discuss its position towards the address at its parliamentary caucus tomorrow, saying it was “difficult” to comment before that.
IFP MP and party secretary-general Musa Zondi added that in many ways the address had been pre-empted, given this year’s parliamentary theme of the knowledge economy and development opportunities. - Sunday Independent