The government is expected to unveil an economic plan that will reignite growth in the country, which President Cyril Ramaphosa is to table in Parliament on Thursday.
But opposition parties say it may have come too late as the economy was already buckling under pressure with the increase in the number of unemployed people.
Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi told Parliament this week that part of the plan will deal with the increase in unemployment after 2.2million people lost their jobs in the second quarter.
Cosatu said on Wednesday it wants Ramaphosa to announce a stimulus package of R1 trillion to get the economy back on track.
It said many people were losing jobs and the government needs to intervene urgently.
The SA Federation of Trade Unions warned that the economic recovery plan appeared to be a shift to the right by the government and not pro-poor to support the working class.
The DA and Cope said the plan may not work as it has missed the bus at the station. They said corruption and lack of investments contributed to sluggish growth in the economy.
DA interim leader John Steenhuisen said the government has failed to implement structural reforms in the economy to get it moving.
“The president has long and often promised pro-growth reforms and he must be held to account for these commitments. Endless plans and empty rhetoric are not going to cut it. Implementation is all that counts now,” Steenhuisen said.
Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem said Ramaphosa must fix ailing state-owned entities. He said no investor would want to throw money in a country with loadshedding.
Eskom has implemented loadshedding in the past few months.
“Investors will not invest in a country when they are not sure about electricity supply,” Bloem said.
He added that the government must deal with corruption.
Dawie Roodt, a chief economist at Efficient Group, said there was no need for a new plan by the president.
Ramaphosa must throw all the plans away and fix basic service delivery at local level and other spheres of government.
“I think what should be in the president’s plan, he must throw it away. The job of the civil servant is to look after the local authorities, the national departments and state-owned entities.
“Get rid of all the plans, make sure that local authorities are well run. Forget all economic plans, just do the job you are supposed to do,” Roodt said.
He said public servants must be able to fix roads, infrastructure, water, sewage system and other basic services at local level for the country to function. These basic things do not require grand plans, but sticking to your day job, said Roodt.
Political Bureau