ANC STATEMENT ON THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS The African National Congress welcomes the first State of the Nation Address of the fifth democratic government delivered by President Jacob Zuma last night. The State of the Nation Address provided concrete, unambiguous and decisive actions to move South Africa forward toward faster economic growth and the creation of decent work with the economy being at the centre of governments programme of action. It is our conviction as the ANC that the State of Nation Address practically takes forward the commitments made in the ANC Manifesto arising from thorough and exhaustive consultation with South Africans from all walks of life during the election campaign. This alignment between the governments plans and the commitments made by the ANC during the election campaign once again proves that our peoples confidence in the ANC is not misplaced. The pronouncements made by the President on governments programme of action over the next 5 years reaffirm our confidence in the fact that we are on track to implement the radical socio-economic transformation programme as contained in the manifesto and mandated to us by our people. Government must now move with vigour and speed to implement the programme contained in the National Development Plan. The State of the Nation Address has laid the foundation by articulating decisive action geared to the attainment of the 5% growth target by 2019. The National Development Plan however is not a government plan but a plan of all South Africans requiring commitment and cooperation from all social partners for its attainment. The targets and proposals made require the dedicated effort of all sectors of society to ensure that we harness the means, goodwill, people and resources that the NDP itself attests that our country possesses to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality. Amongst the many important interventions towards fundamental transformation contained in the State of the Nation Address, the commitments to revitalise local government must be commended. While there have been pockets of excellence and improvement in many municipalities, this sphere of governance continues to be plagued by challenges of delivery, a problem acutely felt and communicated to us by our people during the election campaign. We are pleased therefore that the State of the Nation Address committed National and Provincial Government to work closer with municipalities to address capacity constraints and provide funding for the development of infrastructure which is expected to include water, sanitation and electrification projects. The African National Congress concurs with President Zuma that indeed ours is a nation at work. The firm foundation built over the last 20 years of democracy has ensured that South Africa is a better place today than it was before 1994. We are confident that the 1st State of the Nation Address of this term of government has chart a clear plan of action towards faster economic growth, a necessary precondition to deal with the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The ANC government has demonstrated to our people that we have heard them, we are humbled by their confidence in us and that we shall move South Africa forward, faster.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:05:40 +0000
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