By Paul T. Shipale
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma delivered his 2014 State of the Nation Address, reading 42 pages in one hour and twenty seven minutes, under the theme: “a good story to tell/ South Africa; a better place to live in than ever before.”
It was Zuma’s best State of the Nation address and a bit livelier than last year’s and touched on relevant subjects. Zuma’s speech first focused on the country’s struggle history, which should not be forgotten. To give credence to his contention, he cited the families of the heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle, some of whom were his special guests in the gallery of the chamber. Zuma’s speech is also praised for its coherence in the ANC, linking it to the party’s manifesto and giving an account of the five priorities of the government, as well as providing leadership with regard to the violent protests. Critics said Zuma tried to ride on the curtail of his predecessors, piggy banking on their successes to hide his failure to deliver on his promise of providing the five million jobs he prophesied at the beginning of his administration. They say, 1.5 million people have lost jobs even if over 650 thousand jobs were created last year. In addition, the critics said Zuma has no moral authority and credibility to talk about corruption, especially in view of what is now called ‘Nkandla-gate’ in which nearly 300 million of tax payers money was spent on upgrading the security features at his home village. Conversely, some say the president’s speech would instill confidence in investment which was needed for job creation.
The South African economy is recovering and has seen a growth contributing more than 3.5 trillion Rand to the GDP. “This was the best we could have hoped for at the end of an administration heading into an election,” said the analysts who asserted that mentioning the mining industry early in the speech was positive. “The mining industry is pretty central to the economy. People from outside will look at that in a good light.” Analysts also said they were happy to hear about the stance taken against corruption and that action had been taken against public service officials with more than 320 million Rand recovered, while 1542 officials were dismissed, 140 fined, 20 demoted, 330 received final warnings and 204 were prosecuted, but more needed to be done about corrupt politicians. With the establishment of a central tender board to adjudicate tenders in all spheres of government, this was a step in the right direction, said the analysts who also thought Zuma handled the matter of community protests well and agreed that sometimes rising expectations contributed to these.
Indeed, the country is in the throes of an economic and social crisis. South Africa has been gripped by unrest in the mines since 2012, which have re-escalated again in the last month. And while mine bosses count their losses, protests against government in the country’s poorest areas have raged on for weeks. There is an average of 32 protests a day in South Africa, many of which are violent. The state of the nation address, as a vaunted message of government to the people, did not ignore the pockets of protest that have erupted across the country since the beginning of the year.
While the protests are not a new development, it is the extent and ferocity with which these protests have been waged since the New Year that impelled Zuma to speak directly to protesters. The South African Police Services have also emerged unable to effectively facilitate the right of South Africans to protest. Several protesters have been killed by police since the start of the year. However, Zuma cautioned that in as much as the right to protest is guaranteed and the police is urged to act within the ambit of the law, because any loss of life is not condoned; people should not delegitimize the police and glorify anarchy, but bear in mind that close to 2800 police officers were killed. And while the protests are expected to multiply as the elections draw closer, it was expected that how exactly Zuma addresses protesters and their grievances in his assessment of the state of the nation would be telling of a wider tolerance, or not, of dissent. However, the lack of trust in government among the poor and working class, who are at the heart of these protests, cannot be ignored. For this reason Zuma needed to send a strong message that inspires confidence, to the poor and working class. Meanwhile, analyst also said that President Jacob Zuma’s warning on conflict in the mining industry should be taken seriously by mine workers and mining companies alike. “One has to hope that the mining industry and mine workers were listening carefully when President Zuma spoke from his heart about the important role that mining plays in creating jobs and exports for the South African economy,” said the analysts. “There are tremendous structural changes underway in the mining industry and the current wave of conflict needs to be replaced by genuine dialogue if there is to be a win-win outcome.” Zuma deviated from his set state-of-the-nation speech to warn against conflict in the mining sector. “In no way can we have conflict that destroys the economy,” he told MPs during a joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces. Zuma said that while mine owners sought to keep their mines running, unions, representing workers, sought to ensure good working conditions, decent wages and secure jobs for their members. Negotiation was key “because, in the end, if these two sides don’t work together… it affects the economy of the country,” he gave a stern warning and provided the much needed leadership and direction in this matter.