Create Jobs, Calls President

15 Feb 2013

South African President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address overnight, which was eagerly awaited by the Big Business and others in the country, shows the direction in which the country is headed, the most important part of which is creation of over 11 million jobs by 2030.

The President seeks a shift for the economy from its traditional Euro-centric roots to a wider base. That is the President wants to secure prosperity for the country and its peoples in the aftermath of Apartheid policy. Not only that, in the post-apartheid era, Europe could no longer free booty or lunch, and exports to the Continent which constitute a quarter of the total exports will be reprogrammed.

A whopping Rand 860 billion is proposed to be invested in infrastructure projects in the country, wherein  the big business is expected to play a big part, if that is what the private sector is going to look for. Moreover, infrastructure focus automatically means jobs essentially for the unskilled in the country.  

The present GDP growth rate of 3.1% will not ensure jobs on the scale required. So the country will have to push itself for a 5% growth that will ensure the necessary pace of job creation to reach the 2030 target. The economy will have to grow three-fold to achieve the same.