Cape Town - Much of the focus on President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address tonight has been on whether it will be disrupted by the EFF. But what about the contents of the speech?
Zuma needs to show vision – and perhaps win the support of civil society by considering its wishlist for what the president should be considering in his address.
STATE INSTITUTIONS
Lawson Naidoo, the executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, said the organisation would like to see five issues covered:
* Zuma to commit to strengthening institutions in the criminal justice and anti-corruption sector, in particular the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks. This would allow them to exercise their mandates without “fear, favour or prejudice”.
“Having taken steps against the National Director of Public Prosecutions, will he also act against Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi, who are accused of perjury and, in the case of Mrwebi, also charged with fraud and corruption?” Naidoo asked.
* Zuma should take the nation into his confidence about the turmoil at the SA Revenue Service and the Special Investigating Unit, including what steps he will take to ensure the institutions are able to operate effectively.
* The president should provide a detailed response to each of the findings and remedial steps outlined in Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on Nkandla. He should say whether the Protection of State Information Act will be signed into law or whether he will refer it to the Constitutional Court for a ruling on its constitutionality.
* The status of SA’s nuclear power plans. Has a proper affordability study been conducted for the procurement of 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear power? Will the government commit to a fair, transparent, competitive and cost-effective procurement process?
JOBS, POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
Isobel Frye, the director of the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), says Zuma must give a renewed commitment to the socio-economic rights in the constitution, to Parliament and to constructive engagement with progressive civil society.
The SPII would like:
* An increase in the level of personal income tax for the top two income deciles.
* The implementation of a national minimum wage.
* Comprehensive social security through introduction of a universal basic income grant for all working-age people aged 19 to 59 who are unemployed.
* A plan for the acceleration of housing delivery for the one in four South Africans living in informal settlements.
* An awareness campaign and countrywide consultations on the new Food and Nutrition Security Policy. Frye said it affected 12 million South Africans, who were experiencing food insecurity.
THE UNIONS
Cosatu also wants Zuma to commit to a national minimum wage, plus the defence of collective bargaining and comprehensive social security. It wants Zuma to defend workers’ right to strike and to resolve the crisis at Eskom.
In addition, it would like to see:
* The lives of vulnerable workers change.
* Racism and sexism in the workplace eradicated.
* E-tolls to be done away with.
* Corruption to be countered, particularly in unions and their investment companies.
LAND REFORM
Tara Weinberg, a land reform researcher at the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Law and Society, would like the president to:
* Implement a transparent land redistribution processes with secure tenure rights. He must also tie land redistribution to a coherent pro-poor economic programme.
* Introduce a law that fills the void in communal land tenure legislation, which has left 17 million South African vulnerable to land grabs by mining companies and deals by traditional leaders. Legal recognition of informal and customary land rights would make ordinary people stakeholders in any development on their land, including mining.
* The government must ring-fence and process the outstanding restitution claims lodged before 1999 and act to prevent spurious new claims by traditional leaders on behalf of “tribes”.
* Support and enforce the rights of farmworkers by implementing laws that are in place such as the Labour Tenants Act.
* The government must acknowledge the legacies of spatial inequality and land dispossession where black South Africans were excluded from land ownership and access to markets and agricultural education, among others.
EDUCATION
The NGO Equal Education (EE) wants the president to look at dismal school marks, a divided schooling system that leaves most young people ill-prepared for higher education and the workplace, as well as youth unemployment. EE says there is a large gap between rich and poor public schools regarding teaching conditions and learning outcomes.
“Quality facilities and teaching remain, disproportionally, in wealthy urban areas – serving a very small proportion of South Africans,” EE spokeswoman Nombulelo Nyathela said. “Our schooling system fails to prepare the majority of South African learners to compete in an increasingly skills-intensive economy, to access and excel in higher education and to escape poverty,” she said.
EE is also calling for the provincial departments of education’s plans on the norms and standards rollout to be made public. – Additional reporting by Nontobeko Mtshali
Political Bureau