On course to meet priority targets

2011 Year of Performance

It was a little more than 10 months ago that President Jacob Zuma made certain promises during his State of the Nation Address. To date, government is on course to live up to these promises, particularly in the five priority areas announced in May 2009. These include fighting crime, creating jobs, improving the health system, better education for all and rural development.

Earlier this year, President Jacob Zuma held two separate talks with organised business and labour to find solutions to creating jobs, particularly for the youth, as they make up the majority of the unemployed.

During the mid-year July Cabinet Lekgotla, it was decided to set up two commissions responsible for job creation and infrastructure development. The two commissions are chaired by President Zuma and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe along with several ministers in charge of the key portfolios of job creation and infrastructure development making up the rest of the commissions.

As of September this year, remarkable progress had been made in various job-creation programmes. This was jointly carried out by various departments with the help of state-owned companies and development finance institutions, such as the Industrial Development Corporation.