Jobs, jobs, more jobs and ports and rail, in a nutshell, is what President Cyril Ramaphosa should concentrate on when he delivers his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday evening.
That was the succinct message by provincial leader Alan Winde when he interviewed on radio about his hopes for the Sona on February 6.
The Western Cape’s premier said if there were two things that should stand out after Ramaphosa had delivered his address, it was job creating and driving a thriving economy.
“We are really interested to hear what he is going to say about making sure that we grow our economy and getting jobs in place because it makes the biggest difference to most people.”
Winde stressed that at the current growth rate, recorded as 0.3% by Trading Economics and Investec, job-creating growth was not possible.
He also mentioned the two dreaded words of South Africa’s logistics community, ports and rail, saying that Ramaphosa must be very clear about how the government intended to enable private-sector involvement through structural reforms.
Speaking of enabling, Winde said investment in water and energy infrastructure was of crucial importance.
“We need to make sure that those enablers are in place.”
With clear reference to last year’s clashes that spread across the Cape Town Metropole when the DA-run city took the taxi industry to task over unroadworthy vehicles, Winde said it was hoped that there would be development around the devolution of policing powers to diversify law enforcement across all sectors in a bid to make municipalities safer.
