SOUTH AFRICA: President Jacob Zuma calls on his countrymen to respect Nelson Mandela's privacy as he enters his final years and says foreign powers must stay out of Egyptian affairs

Record ID: 455546

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: President Jacob Zuma calls on his countrymen to respect Nelson Mandela's privacy as he enters his final years and says foreign powers must stay out of Egyptian affairs
  • Date: 11th February 2011
  • Summary: ZUMA ON PODIUM (AUDIO OF MUSIC PLAYING )
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAB2PEXFQ92LTIRYE8H2B7D6UHS
  • Story Text: Zuma calls on South Africans to allow Nelson Mandela some dignity as his frail predecessor's health continues to be a matter of concern to the nation.
    South African President Jacob Zuma called on his countrymen to respect his predecessor Nelson Mandela's privacy as he enters his final years.
    Zuma's remarks came during his State of the Nation address delivered to parliament in Cape Town on Thursday (February 10).
    "We need to accept the reality that President Mandela, who is loved by all of us, young and old, men and women, black and white, is not young anymore. He will, from time to time, visit medical facilities for check-ups, which is normal for a person of his age. We should allow him to do so with dignity, and give the family and the medical team the space to look after him, on our behalf, in privacy," said Zuma.
    The President also referred to the ongoing street demonstrations in Egypt, saying he believed foreign powers should not intervene in the country's affairs.
    "South Africa has taken note of the unfolding developments in Egypt, as well as the earlier events in Tunisia. We continue to monitor the situation closely, including its implications for the Middle East and North Africa. We firmly believe that the course and the content of the transition as well as the destiny that these sister countries choose, should be authored by them," he said.
    Zuma also called on the government and private sector to create jobs, setting aside billions of dollars to create work in Africa's largest economy, hard-hit by chronic unemployment.
    Economists have expressed concern that Zuma's government is relying too heavily on the state to create work over the private sector, while a presidential report said four major labour reform bills his administration proposed could cause millions to lose their jobs.
    Zuma made a concession to the private sector and announced 20 billion rand ($2.75 billion) in tax allowances to promote investment and expansion for manufacturing firms.
    More than a million jobs have been lost since the start of global financial crisis.
    The ANC has allocated billions of dollars over the years for job training, only to find the money lost to inefficiency and corruption, with few economists expecting the latest plan to do little more than swell state spending.
    The labour reforms, job fund and the Zuma administration's New Growth Plan, which calls on government initiatives to create 5 million jobs by 2020, have been aimed at pleasing powerful labour federation COSATU, in a governing alliance with Zuma's ANC.
    Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said he sympathised with Zuma's predicament.
    "I sympathise with him when he tried to quantify because I mean yes he has been talking about jobs for a long time and promising millions of jobs and so on you know when more jobs were lost in fact than those he had promised, but this time you know he actually solicits also the help of the private sector," said Buthelezi.
    But Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille called Zuma's address insubstantial, even though it included a shift to DA policies. Zille said the speech lacked detail.
    "The nine million jobs funded over three years that we believe is a wage subsidy, the first time youth employment wage subsidy that the DA (Democratic Alliance) has promoted for many years, and I think he is disguising it as something else because he wants to take the salt along with him, but if it is the wage subsidy, yes we would welcome that very much," she said.
    There have been numerous calls on Zuma to spell out his plans to steer the country through its economic difficulties.
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