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Johannesburg - There has not been much progress in government's job creation project due to the economical crisis that hit the world recently, President Jacob Zuma said during an interview on SABC 1 on Sunday.
"As you may know, this is one of the five priorities... In the other four we have made progress, but this one still needs to be tackled, " he said.
Speaking a day after addressing the 99th ANC anniversary celebration in Polokwane, Limpopo, Zuma said the issue of job creation was going to be a central issue at the upcoming ANC congress and how resources will be allocated to see to it.
He said although there was an economic growth in the country two years ago, this was not enough for the job creation priority.
However, Zuma said government had clear plans on what it needed to do and that the document of the new growth path detailed what it was going to do.
He said the document was made public for people to record their views and tell government what to do better in its plans.
Zuma warned that these views needed to be expressed quickly as the plan needed to be implemented urgently.
Financial assistance
He also touched on the announcement to financially support last year students in university saying this stemmed from the 52nd national conference of the ANC in 2007 where the ruling party took a clear view of the importance of education.
He said the division of the education departments to help government plan and address challenges also resulted from decisions made the 52nd conference.
Zuma said the financial assistance was aimed at the most deserving poor students, who are doing well in their studies.
These students will see their loans converted to bursaries once they produce great pass marks.
Zuma said this was an incentive to encourage children to study.
He, however, acknowledged that there were still greater challenges in primary education with some children still attending schools under trees.
He said plans were underway to eradicate such schools and those operating in mud buildings.
Land
Another challenging issue, Zuma said was the large number of matriculants who could not afford to further their education or find jobs.
Land redistribution was also mentioned as another area which still had a lot of challenges.
Zuma said the department of rural and land affairs was working on plans on how to adjust the law to address the matter.
He specifically pointed out the issue of foreigners buying South African land as one of the issues and warned that this was dangerous as it might leave the nation without ownership of much land.
"If we as South Africa allow people to keep buying our land, we will end up with a country where other people own our land."
"This is why we need to be careful in how we handle foreigners who come to buy land," Zuma said.
NHI
Other issues that Zuma briefly mentioned included the national health insurance (NHI), which was still to be finalised, and police efforts that led to a decrease in crime.
He further said the ruling party was planning to campaign "vigorously" to ensure it succeeded in the upcoming municipal elections this year.
Zuma said plans were also underway to monitor the performance of municipal councillors as the heart of delivery was in municipalities.
"As you may know, this is one of the five priorities... In the other four we have made progress, but this one still needs to be tackled, " he said.
Speaking a day after addressing the 99th ANC anniversary celebration in Polokwane, Limpopo, Zuma said the issue of job creation was going to be a central issue at the upcoming ANC congress and how resources will be allocated to see to it.
He said although there was an economic growth in the country two years ago, this was not enough for the job creation priority.
However, Zuma said government had clear plans on what it needed to do and that the document of the new growth path detailed what it was going to do.
He said the document was made public for people to record their views and tell government what to do better in its plans.
Zuma warned that these views needed to be expressed quickly as the plan needed to be implemented urgently.
Financial assistance
He also touched on the announcement to financially support last year students in university saying this stemmed from the 52nd national conference of the ANC in 2007 where the ruling party took a clear view of the importance of education.
He said the division of the education departments to help government plan and address challenges also resulted from decisions made the 52nd conference.
Zuma said the financial assistance was aimed at the most deserving poor students, who are doing well in their studies.
These students will see their loans converted to bursaries once they produce great pass marks.
Zuma said this was an incentive to encourage children to study.
He, however, acknowledged that there were still greater challenges in primary education with some children still attending schools under trees.
He said plans were underway to eradicate such schools and those operating in mud buildings.
Land
Another challenging issue, Zuma said was the large number of matriculants who could not afford to further their education or find jobs.
Land redistribution was also mentioned as another area which still had a lot of challenges.
Zuma said the department of rural and land affairs was working on plans on how to adjust the law to address the matter.
He specifically pointed out the issue of foreigners buying South African land as one of the issues and warned that this was dangerous as it might leave the nation without ownership of much land.
"If we as South Africa allow people to keep buying our land, we will end up with a country where other people own our land."
"This is why we need to be careful in how we handle foreigners who come to buy land," Zuma said.
NHI
Other issues that Zuma briefly mentioned included the national health insurance (NHI), which was still to be finalised, and police efforts that led to a decrease in crime.
He further said the ruling party was planning to campaign "vigorously" to ensure it succeeded in the upcoming municipal elections this year.
Zuma said plans were also underway to monitor the performance of municipal councillors as the heart of delivery was in municipalities.
