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Durban – President Jacob Zuma has said a greater investment in the country’s infrastructure would assist it during tough economic times.
Zuma was speaking at the post State of the Nation (SONA) discussion at the The New Age Business brief held outside Cape Town.
The number one citizen lamented the state of South Africa’s economy, saying it had not fully recovered from the 2008 global economic meltdown.
“Some countries have recovered, particularly the United States. But if you look closely, other places like Europe struggled and are only now doing better. The slowness of the recovery has impacted us also.”
Zuma added that developments in 2010 showed that jobs could increase if infrastructure was a focus.
“This is something that is going to benefit workers and organised labour also. I believe the increase in infrastructure proved it can do something. We have fought for South Africa to grow its economic focus on infrastructure and energy.
“Therefore we are saying - let us identify key things to invest in. We need to find things to do together with the private sector. This is the South Africa that needs to develop.”
Zuma added that government had made good progress with its nine point-plan and encouraged people to understand the impact of a struggling economy.
“There needs to be interaction, with all of us talking together. We are saying we must not look at our problems as the end of everything, but [rather] help us innovative and move forward.”
