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Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma put the need to boost economic growth at the centre of the first major policy speech of his second term on Tuesday, saying he hoped to lift annual growth to 5% by 2019.
Zuma also said he would take direct responsibility for improving social conditions in the mining industry, which has been beset by two years of crippling strikes.
He said the government still strongly believes that the most effective weapon in the campaign against poverty, is the creation of decent work, and that creating work requires faster economic growth.
"To achieve (the set target growth of 5% by 2019), we will embark on various measures and interventions to jump-start the economy.
He said the economy has grown below its potential over the last three years and many households are going through difficulties. "We have (thus) set this target during a difficult period."
Zuma said the slow growth has been caused in part by the global economic slowdown and secondly by domestic conditions, "such as the prolonged and at times violent strikes, and also the shortage of energy".
Shortly before Zuma was due to deliver his State of the Nation address, state utility Eskom announced it has started Stage 1 of load shedding again as the electricity supply was exceptionally tight.
Also on Tuesday, platinum producers confirmed that they had received a response from mining union Amcu, which could end the almost five-month-long strike plaguing the platinum sector.
Zuma said given the impact of the untenable labour relations environment on the economy, it is critical for social partners to meet and deliberate on the violent nature and duration of the strikes.
The social partners will also need to deliberate on wage inequality, he said.
"On our side as government we will during this term investigate the possibility of a national minimum wage as one of the key mechanisms to reduce the income inequality."
He said Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will convene the social partners dialogue, within the ambit of Nedlac.
