Key opposition parties in the South African Parliament are expecting President Thabo Mbeki not to divert too much from his State of the Nation address delivered in February when he reopens the newly elected Parliament on Friday.
Inkatha Freedom Party finance spokesperson Gavin Woods, a former chairperson of public accounts, said that he did not think that Mbeki — who will deliver the State of the Nation address on Friday shortly after 11am — would moot new ideas on economic policies but that there would be a focus on delivery matters.
Reflecting on the changes in the economic cluster ministers — with former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin moving to public enterprises and Jeff Radebe moving from there to transport — Woods said one “could wonder whether the Cabinet shift may suggest some repositioning of priorities to which the president may add his thinking”.
Woods suggested that trade and industry department initiatives — particularly in the line of promoting small business — have not been hugely successful and the new minister of that ministry, Mandisi Mpahlwa, would face pressure to be more decisive.
“I think it is necessary that government considers what our national growth path should look like and the president may give flesh to that.”
Democratic Alliance federal chairperson Joe Seremane said there would be much talk about “the overwhelming mandate” received by the ruling African National Congress.
“He [Mbeki] will say a lot about accelerated delivery, the strength of the economy but he probably won’t mention HIV/Aids or escalating crime levels.”
He also won’t say much about “sprawling informal settlements in cities” or the fact that they are incubators of crime and disease, said Seremane. “The backlog of housing is growing but that won’t be mentioned.”
Another matter on which the president is unlikely to dwell is the situation in neighbouring Zimbabwe, although the alleged mercenaries detained there may turn out to be a hot potato issue in the weeks ahead. Seremane suggested that the men should be extradited back to South Africa.
New National Party MP Francois Beukman, also a former chairperson of the standing committee on public accounts, said Mbeki’s message would be “on delivery, creating jobs especially through the public works programme”.
Independent Democrats finance spokesperson Chris Wang declined to comment. — I-Net Bridge