Last week’s 2011 State of Nation address by Jacob Zuma in Cape Town kicked off with the usual pomp and ceremony. Sadly for many of those eagerly listening for the major Zuma faux pas and outrageous promises, the speech was a disappointing one.
Mr Zuma significantly improved his speech delivery and there was a lot less cynical laughter and cringing than there was at the 2010 State of the Nation address. Although there was a moment when he mentioned the sterling improvement in the South African matric results that raised an eyebrow or an ecstatically happy two in the case of Angie Motshekga. But more on those irrelevant statistics another time. The overall address was practical and produced nothing unexpected – no talk of nationalisation of mines, public flogging of white people, promises of lucrative BEE deals for all PDIs – quite boring really.
The focus of the speech was on job creation and the important role that the private sector has to play in making sure that happens. Judging by the pre-budget figures mentioned in the speech, it looks like government is putting our money where their mouth is.
The one interesting element that Mr Zuma did touch upon was that of democracy. This was very relevant given the recent topplings in Tunisia and Egypt. It is important for South Africans not to forget his words and to be immediately outspoken should they ever find their country wavering down the president-for-life path.
On a lighter note, it is Valentine’s Day today and sadly nothing exciting happening in the world as in 2009’s pink chaddi campaign in India. Wonkie wishes readers a very Happy Valentine’s day and sends virtual, eco-friendly flowers to you all!
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It’s easy to make comments about job creation and much harder to actually deliver. Pushing the buck back onto the private sector is great as long as there are sufficiently good incentives for them to take action.. i.e. tax breaks etc.
ps: the Gareth Cliff drinking game got me totally wasted halfway through the speech… LOL!
UB 40 sang a song about arseholes like these ANC lot, and, I quote. It’s called ‘PROMISES AND LIES’.
its all politics – tell poor citizens private sector will create jobs, with govt help. then blame private sector when jobs not delivered. good timing, that……..just before elections, too. what a crock of steaming c%&p
dey always preach about service delivery, we r sick & tired of their empty promises. If we want to make a living we’ll do it without their help; we cn sell tomatoes and put a bread on de table dats al!
i think that the president is focusing on the symptoms and not the cause of unemployment, there are tons of skilled and semi skilled jobs in south africa, the problem lies with the bottom line in the job market, this is primarly due to our education system which i might add does not teach our children to thinkm, take for example this, a maths teacher tells the children that they are writting a test on friday, the kids go home and study and get 80% for the test, i challenge any south african parent to do as i have done and ask the child to apply the knowledge, no points for guessing the answer!!!! our system is breeding a generation of parrot fashioned crammers and not thinkers our labour market is short of skills and this is attributed to the level the education department offers, our children cannot even get past 1st varisy which i remember as being the easiest. sort out this crisis and our universities will be full of doctors, engineers and accountants not lawyers and not full of lawyers which is by far the easist degree to access no disrespect to any competent lawyer on this forum or in the industry, impressive matric results my a*** this will lead to a downward trend in our poverty levels, the more educated a man the more he can give back to society, stop condoning the begging bowl mentality (oh you could’nt do that anc otherwise you would lose your majority wouldnt you ) lets get back to a system that works (as a proffessional everytime i encounter a problem i backtrack and review the fundementals why change an education that used to work albeit that it was implemented by the previous dispensation, lets get back to basics and when the basics are right we can take the next step
It was the usual crap. One can see there is shortly to be an election as service delivery, job creation, certain tax relief etc suddenly bears its head. I just wonder how many unborn and dead persons and those who have left our country and taken up residence in that country are registered on the ANC voters roll, probably millions !!!
@cs the private sector has no problem creating the jobs, its just not sustainable jobs they can create, where are all the tenderneurs why does goverment not make it compulsory for them to create the jobs
The President is the Greatest Pretender a master of False Hopes…
Nicely tailored to con the naive into voting for the ANC. Sooner or later the proletariat will see that it is just pre election talk ,all the promises. Hope it won’t go on for as long as it did in Egypt – 30 !! years. People get tired, loose hope and BANG!!!!
Some of the foreigners, viz the Nigerians, Pakistanis and the Indians were trading lucrative businesses from their own residences, but, lo-ho, along comes the municipalities and shut them down. Then to add insult to injury, the Pakistanis and Indians get arrested and deported. Is this a racial affair, or what? These foreigners are generating income for all of us. They extend the application time for the Nigerians, hoping that they will vote for the ANC. Most of the Nigerians detest the ANC, one of the reason being, having moved from one shitty govt to SA, with the hope of making a better life for themselves and their kin, are now being faced with a worse off form of shit, the ANC. You ANC lot, the riff-raff of all society, are turning SA into a retro-regressive state, turning one brother against another. Why, just because you’ll can. Jacob Zuma, forget shaking your backside overseas trying to show them how ‘big’ you are, when your own people are starving and dying of diseases, including AIDS. SA NOW is 1st in respect of the number of aids victims in the world.
I like the use of isizulu in his speech, I think next year he must just stick to zulu…good speech and achievable. we are tired of negative people, ANC has the muscle to take south africa forward and there is currenlty no party that can do better than ANC did in 17 years…
Mr Zuma with his SONA seems to forget that, as president, that is where the buck stops – the top of the pyramid. If his lieutenants have not got the will or capabillities to stop fraud , money laundering, crime, and all the other shenanigans or if they themselves are involved in shady deals he must be ruthless and excise the cancer. But perhaps he is too weak to deal with these situations and hence you have the current situation.
Mr. Zuma .. If you can get the potholes fixed in 6 months , then you can stay , if not , why should we even think that your promises have any value . Do it .. It is easy !!!
Wafle, waffle, waffle. Thats what the ANC has been doing for the last 17 years. Telling us what the party and government intends to do but only individually enriching themselves using taxpayers money every time it is elected to govern every five years. Why should the promises that Zuma gave in his speech be very different? The respective ex presidents pf Tunisia and Egypt deposited billions of their country’s taxpayers money in overseas banks for that protest ‘topple a president day’ and Mugabe and his wife Graceless have done the same in repect of Malaysia and Hongkong with Zimbabwe’s foreign currency. With his track record, will Zuma be any different?
Valentine has lost its true meaning and touch because its now a commercial marketing tool to sell products.
it used to be a quite affair in two-some tables at candle-lit restaurants and its of course a white cultural ceremony.It was never spoken o in black circles until blacks got into white offices and they just emulate because they think if they shun it they`ll be seen as backwards and uncivilised.
The more people stand up against this useless ANC gov. the less I have to say! Looking at the comments I have won most wonkiers to my side – welcome and let’s get on with the important task of making sure as most of our friends in the streets arounds us follow suit and reject these corrupt stealing incompetent idiots before we become a zim…the south can’t afford to have 2 zim’s in such a small space on the map 😉
If you really want to make it big in SA join the ANC, you will then get to heaven, next you must spout a lot of nonsense about how whites are trying to bring back apartheid, you must also demand nationalisation, how about throwing a reporter out of a press conference. Marry 5 wives, have some illegitimate kids and thsen spout about morality. Put your brother, sister and mother onto the state payroll and go to Malaysia to do your shopping.
Ouch, I forgot, If we really want to create jobs, we will not scare off investors, foreign and local with nationalisation rhetoric, stupid laws that intend to curb the press or enable farm workers to take over our farms or allow the crime wave to continue, to fail to prosecute Police criminals, support Mugabe and many other foolish activities.
If Zuma wants the private sector to create more jobs he will have to reign in Vavi and Cosatu, so that existing factories can continue to operate. Does Zuma know how many factories have closed down in the Free State during the past six months alone? Botchabelo, which used to be an industrial hub looks like a ghost town. Putting a cap on cheap Chinese imports will never cross his mind because the ANC get too much funding from China. One of these days we’ll be a colony of China, along with Zimbabwe. He he. Maybe then they will appreciate what the British colonialists did for the country.
The country has become so ‘broken’ since the ANC took over that it will take and intelligent government decades to get it back into running order. That is to say, if there is any money or resources left by them.
I often wonder what the mean IQ is of the ANC members of parliament? Surely they must have realised by now that it takes huge intelligence to run a country as complex as ours and that, judging by the way previously working institutions have been destroyed, they do not have the ‘capacity’ to fulfill the mandate given to them by the voters, no matter how many billions they budget for fixing things. The only things they seem to be excellent at is fraud and corruption and breaking down things that once used to work. Even the previous Bantu education was better than what now is dished up in the government schools.
As long as they keep on creating jobs for cadres, regardless of mental capacity, nothing will improve.
What we need to remember is that the ANC is a bunch of fools run by a fool who sweet talks an uneducated, unsophisticated people into the foolishness of electing these fools.Their vision is too narrow and and their rhetoric, besides being dangerous, is a pack of lies and foolish. Who thinks that they will get to heaven if they join the ANC. Only fools who believe a leader who tells them so. Only leader who is a easy with the truth and an adulterer, has he a special mandate from God or a fool. The other thing that we need to remember is that Hitler, Mussolini and Mugabe were all elected.
The anc os promising what the next new elected party will be doing when the majority decides enough is enough and vote of a true GOD fearing and serving party..
job creation is the MASTER KEY to poverty reduction but not that easy to do hey, lets see how he’ll do it!!!
it was a well speech i think he saw his mistakes nd he ddnt lieabout the things that should be done compared to the 2010 speech i say big ups to Mr President
dEENA…THESE FOREIGNERS YOU`RE TALKING BOU ARE MONEY LAUNDERERS WHILE THEY ENJOY FACILITIES PAID FOR BY YOU!THEY GET THEIR MONEY BY ROBBING,EXTORTING,PROSTITUTING,ADDICTING ETC.SO,YOU ARE FIGHTING FOR THE WRONG BUNCH!I EXPECTED SOMEONE OF YOUR GENDER TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN WHO ARE VICTIMS OF THESE MEN THAT YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT.THEIR GOVRNMENTS DON`T ALLOW FOREIGNERS TO OME TO THEIR COUNTRIES TO BEG SO WHY MUST WE?
I agree with Tim the druglords in an area not far from us are all from, Nigeria,Camaroon and Zimbabwe. They drive big expensive cars, run and rule brothels, trading in women and encourage crime . They are targeting now even primary school children and nothing as at today has been preventing them of doing so in that area. We all need to form a public forum to fight this battle as it has got out of hand in that area which is close to one of the biggest shopping centres in our country.
bdc is a fundamentalist who cannot see beyond his nose or the ANC. They have had ample opportunity to take SA forward and they have squandered it by creating a jobless state which is still going downhill. Their stupid and ill considered laws that they believe will help their majority will actually do the opposite. If bdc were an investor in the SA economy he would have to worry about the failures of service delivery, the high crime rate, the inability of the justice system to prosecute criminal cops. bdc would have to deal with a lck of information because the ANC is doing what the old Nats did, they are restricting the press, They are chasing labour off the land, they want to nationalise first the mines and then probably everything else except the one thing that should be nationalised namely public transport. They cant shut up Malema and his poisonous words and they kiss Mugabe’s bum. If bdc would open his eyes he would not invest in SA.
Met die afgelope seisoen se vloede is werkskepping so maklik soos pie en op elke plek waar daar ‘n brandende motorband was, is daar volgende week ‘n pothole om te laat regmaak deur ‘n halfgebakte korrupte tenderpreneur wie se werk net paar dae sal hou.
en Garth, hulle soen mugabe se agterwereld omdat hy nes hulle, een van die “verligtes” onder die sataniese free masons is! 2011 is die begin van die smarte!
Mark. 13:8 Want die een nasie sal teen die ander opstaan, en die een koninkryk teen die ander; en daar sal aardbewings wees op verskillende plekke, en daar sal hongersnode wees en beroeringe. Hierdie dinge is ’n begin van die smarte.
Die Bybel: Ou Vertaling, (Suid–Afrika: Bybelgenootskap Van Suid–Afrika) 1953.
Dirk, jy is reg dit is die begin van die smarte, maar JESUS se: Wanneer julle hierdie dinge sien gebeur rig julle hoofde na bo en weet dat julle verlossing naby is. Die koms van die HERE het ek gedroom toe ek 5 jaar oud was en ek weet HY kom nog in my leeftyd hier op aarde. Soos die lig so helder was op Paulus dat hy vir 3 dae blind was nog helderder gaan DIE DAG wees, die ongereddes sal nie kan sien nie want die lig sal hulle verblind, maar ons sal in n oomblik verander word met hemelse liggame en die LIG sal ons verlossing wees.
@Dirk, Old Fashion – please keep your comments in English or they will be removed from the site.
At least Zuma is one African president who sees where the winds are blowing to.
People want to be governed in a democratic manner.Time for dictatorships is up
The ex Presidents of Tunisia, Egypt and Mugabe of Zimbabwe with his greedy wife Graceless, have deposted billions of their country’s money into foreign banks for that day when they will be toppled. The late Amin of Uganda did the same and so did Mobuthu of the Congo. It unfortunately is a trend with despot African leaders. With his track record and obvious love of money, has this man Zuma done the same and deposited millions of rands into foreign banks?
YOU, BE THE JUDGE?
Democracy includes an employer and employee being able to negotiate a deal. If either party cannot get along together then either party must be able to end the deal when they like. Employees can do this now with little recourse. Employers can’t. No one fires good workers. What happened to the idea that if you want more money you improve yourself? If people strike they should be fired. That is not why they were employed. When we have democracy jobs will be created. And if you don’t like your service delivery vote for someone else. That’s democracy. Don’t trash what you have. That’s anarchy.
governments setup workshops at premises donated by the private sector then invite the private sector to volunteer to come and train people in skills that are in express need and place these people soon after graduation.here it seems lik the private secto is being enriched because this is what is going to happen lie it did ith skills development where today illiteracy in the private and public sector is high.If the much needed skill is storemanship then train jobless to be storemen and place them!
Employers should be allowed to employ people that is skilled and experienced to do their function in a company according to the employers needs. This aa at the moment is chaos as too many unskilled, untrained people are in positions that they are not qualified for. Some do not even know how to answer a phone, phone municipal or government offices and see if you get a reply, the phones are never answered. Email is deleted before it is even read.
Emails messaged sent we require a read and delivered return, the message we get back:- deleted. Now thousands are to be relocated from the eatern Cape and Kwazulu to other ereas of the country. This is a political move to obtain votes in the areas they know they are going to loose. They must really think we are fools. Surprise awaiting them there are other means without violence to overcome this chaos. Lets pray that it will happen soon , we must use that strategy , it will soon be on a blog
The state of the national address by president Zuma was a good one as he focused a lot on impontent issues.
Keep up the good work that you do for this country Mr President.
After the Nats came to power in 1948 they started relocating white pro nat voters into areas where they had no hope of winning seats. Creating new Nat constituencies. Yet again the ANC is reading and implementing Voerword’s policies. Oom Hendrik also discriminated against Coloureds and Indians, many who were activists against the Apartheid regime now the revisions to the Employment Equity Act seek to remove them from Job opportunities in the Western Cape and possibly the Northern Cape. The ANC is behaving like the old Nats.
Garth. You are spot on!
There`s no anc here but whites!all our institutions and laws are motivated,informed and influenced by white people!i attend draft policy oral hearings and i find only whites and dozing blacks who make no input or contribution!
Illiteracy,delinquency,school bullying and dropouts its the works of white people!our armed forces are domineered and controlled by white people that`s why blacks are so poorly trained an see blacks as the villains or the enemy and whites as angels!that is the teaching whites are imparting to them in their training centres!that was why machel flatly rejected reconciliation because he saw that whites were gonna continue with their transgressions and offensives.these zimbabweans are brought here to come and help the gangsters to annihilate and destroy us that why they go around to homes and businesses and agitate that no charity or generosity must be given to blacks than they remove our people from their jobs and fill-up with their own people while those in the security guard companies are killing blacks.whites have set 2014 as the year when this country will be zimbabwe with a few hundred thousand blacks
Tim be logical: Everyone, black, white ,pink or orange or what ever colour they are, if they have hate in their hearts they are wicked. This is what causes war and crime. Those who have repented and love GOD knows no hate and trusts HIM only. No wonder that HE will be coming soon to destroy all evil. Yes LORD JESUS thank you for your love, and thank YOU for coming again to bring true peace and eternal prosperty for those who love and serve YOU.
Modoba, some days I like you!
Tim,
The ANC tried to do all things in some other way, just to see if it will work…eventually they will have to return to the way of the white man as that is the only way things work – the main reason why they did it that way in the first place. So what laes do you think should change? let’s hear what you have to say – that will give us an idea how much thinking and how much “trying” or “dozing” you can do…. 😉
This bcontinent is going to have an identity ,direction and prindciples just like the west,middleeast and china etc so that its structures includin tow ns and cities must resemble its cause.
i felt quite offended hearing some opportunists remarking that they`re turning joburg into that westmister area of west london called soho!that won`t happen for as long as I`m still alive!My first action will be to go to the human rights commision to get them to order these skinheads developers to stop chasing black from areas they have earmarked theirs then to take masondo to the constitutional court to force him to develop an african city!this continent is going to be our most proudest home just like other continents are the most proudest homes for their inhabitants!
Tim. You still don’t get it. If the whites had not come here you would still be running around in skins. If you want to get rid of whites then get rid of their cars, cellphone, medical, educational, TV etc etc technology with them. Go anywhere you like in negroid Africa and you will find a caucasian or mongoloid behind all technical advances-those blacks brought up in a whitey environment excepted
Tim,
You metioned “developing and African city”…how long will it last in the kind of rains we had recently? There is an african city on the banks of the Jukskei river close to alexandra if you want one…no planning at all. If one fool forget to put his candle ( another whitey thing ) out, the whole city goes up in flames and if there is a good rainstorm, half the city end up in the hartebeespoort dam and if the wind blows, the city is “gone with the wind” and so on… 😉