Economic challenges highlighted in Zuma's State of Nation Address

South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday delivered his 8th State of the Nation Address (SONA), expressing deep concern about the country's low economic growth as a result of both global and domestic factors.

MPs of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) disrupted Zuma's speech, demanding that he first explain why he sacked Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene late last year.

Zuma, however, managed to continue his speech after the EFF together with MPs of Congress of the People walked out of parliament in protest.

"A resilient and fast growing economy is at the heart of our radical economic transformation agenda and our National Development Plan. Our economy has been facing difficulties since the financial crisis in 2008. We embarked on an aggressive infrastructure development program to stimulate growth."

"The situation requires an effective turnaround plan from us. It is about doing things differently and also acting on what may not have been acted upon quickly before," Zuma said.

Zuma said the country was at risk of a further downgrade due to poor performance of the economy and called on the government and business to work for faster growth.

Zuma said, "Government is developing a One Stop Shop/Invest SA initiative to signal that South Africa is truly open for business. We will fast-track the implementation of this service, in partnership with the private sector.

"Such an initiative requires that government removes the red tape and reviews any legislative and regulatory blockages."

He emphasized that the government was doing its best to improve the efficiency of state owned companies.

"They must be properly governed and managed. We will ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the Presidential Review Commission on State Owned Enterprises, which outlines how the institutions should be managed," said Zuma.

Zuma said his government was working hard to support small and medium enterprises as well as the tourism sector. He announced a number of measures that his government will adopt to reduce expenditure.

Zuma said, "Overseas trips will be curtailed and those requesting permission will have to motivate strongly and prove the benefit to the country. The sizes of delegations will be greatly reduced and standardised.

"Further restrictions on conferences, catering, entertainment and social functions will be instituted. The budget vote dinners for stakeholders hosted by government departments in Parliament, after the delivery of budget speeches will no longer take place."

He added that his government was also scoring successes in some areas despite challenges.

"Progress has been made to stabilise the electricity supply. There has been no load shedding since August last year, which has brought relief for both households and industry alike.

"On the health front, the life expectancy of South Africans for both males and females has significantly improved and is currently 62 years across genders, which is an increase of eight and a half years since 2005," he said.

Zuma said South Africa was determined to prevail over the current economic difficulties.

He said, "The tough global and domestic conditions should propel us to redouble our efforts, working together as all sectors. In this regard, it is important to act decisively to remove domestic constraints to growth."

"We cannot change the global economic conditions, but we can do a lot to change the local conditions. Let us work together to turn the situation around. It can be done," he noted. Endit