Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma committed his government to a "year of action" in which it would maintain efforts to mitigate the effects of the recession and, at the same time, increase the push to grow the economy and create jobs.
Delivering his second state of the nation speech under difficult personal and political circumstances, Zuma gave away few specifics about what the year of action would entail.
But, he did hint at the tone that would underpin Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's budget speech next week.
Acknowledging that indicators suggested the economy was turning a corner, Zuma cautioned that it was "too soon to be certain about the pace of recovery".
For this reason, as well as the fact that "around 900 000" jobs had been lost during the course of last year, Zuma said that government would not be withdrawing the anti-recession measures it had started implementing last year.
This includes the extended public works programme that was given a goal of creating 500 000 "job opportunities" between May and December last year.
Dismissing criticism that his government had failed on this particular promise, Zuma said: "We are pleased to announce that by the end of December, we had created more than 480 000 public works job opportunities, which is 97% of the target we had set."
Industrial policy action
Zuma announced a wage subsidy to incentivise businesses to employ young and inexperienced people.
He also promised that the new and improved industrial policy action plan, which cabinet approved recently, would be a key factor in building stronger, more "labour-absorbing" industries.
However, he did not give details or time frames on either of these.
Although he made specific mention about the need to make the economy more "competitive and productive" in order to create jobs, he did not provide detail.
"Now is the time to lay the groundwork for stronger growth going forward, and for growth that gives rise to more jobs. Our long-term infrastructure programme will help us grow faster. Our education and skills programmes will increase our productivity and competitiveness," said Zuma.
Government housing was one of a handful of areas where Zuma did get more specific.
He announced plans to allocate 6 000 hectares of "well-located public land" for low-income housing and to set up a guarantee fund worth R1bn to "incentivise the private banking and housing sector" to put roofs over more heads.
When it came to dealing with government service delivery, which has been the cause of regular and violent public protests over the last year, Zuma called on civil servants, especially those in municipalities, to up their game.
He also promised a tougher monitoring regime for top bureaucrats and ministers: "We require excellence and hard work. We need public servants who are dedicated, capable and who care for the needs of citizens.
"The ministers who are responsible for a particular outcome, will sign a detailed Delivery Agreement with the President. It will outline what is to be done, how, by whom, within what time period and using what measurements and resources."
Zuma, however, did not say what would be done if performances from ministers and bureaucrats, especially teachers who were not teaching for the required "seven hours" a day, were not up to standard.
The president made no mention of the controversial plan to implement a national health insurance scheme and he did not provide updates on other key government projects like the comprehensive review of the justice system.
- Fin24.com