Johannesburg – In an unprecedented move, the Presidency has issued a string of President Jacob Zuma’s successes in the past financial year.
The statement issued on Wednesday said as Zuma celebrates his 75 birthday, “the Presidency takes stock of the progress made in past year under his leadership”.
Zuma has faced mounting pressure for him to step down both from opposition political parties and civil society.
And as the president celebrates his birthday a second round of protests labelled as a National Day of Action, hosted by political parties, were taking place in Pretoria to the Union Buildings.
The statement from the Presidency could be seen as Zuma’s attempt to stem the tide of growing criticism from those calling for him to step down.
Among the president’s long list of successes includes economic transformation, reigning in growth and jobs in a number of sectors such manufacturing, agriculture, land and water.
The list highlights the strides made by the Department of Trade and Industry to support 1 770 companies through incentives which resulted in R57 Billion new investment and 80 000 jobs being supported.
In the agriculture and forestry department, the presidency said the departments were able to fund drought relief initiatives amounting to R263 million.
For the mining industry, it highlighted the Special Presidential Package aimed revitalising mining towns, where 351 informal settlements in the mining towns received support from the government’s national upgrade support programme.
Others included the department of energy where R5.6 Billion was invested in electrifying 235 000 households with grid electricity and 20 000 with non-grid electricity.
The presidency also highlighted the contentious issues of the nuclear programme, which it insists will be made on a scale the country can afford.
It said the department of energy had received one proposal for the nuclear programme, but is waiting for feedback from the department on the matter.
Some other success include; health, education, transportation, social support, safety and security, governance and administration.
With many organisations and political parties having promised more protest action, the presidency said it planned to focus this year on economic growth, radical socio-economic transformation, land reform and redistribution, funding higher education and fighting corruption.
A number of these successes were already highlighted by the President in his State of the Nation Address in February.