Key issues Sona needs to cover

EXPERTS across various sectors such as agriculture and small business outlined some key issues which needs attention at today’s State of the Nation address.

Carl Opperman, chief executive of Agri Western Cape, said the organisation hopes the president’s address will show that he understands and supports the critical role of agriculture as the pillar of South Africa’s economy.

“Agri Western Cape hopes the president will express his support for the agricultural sector that can only uplift if it is profitable. We also hope the president will support his party’s secretary-general Gwede Mantashe’s view that commercial agriculture and its contribution to GDP should rather be maintained than destroyed.”

Opperman said critical service delivery and factors President Jacob Zuma needs to address include drought and water capacity, transformation of land and the education system and rural safety.

The organisation hopedmore funds would be allocated for drought and disaster relief for agriculture, to negate the impact of the drought.

“We request more funds for fighting fires and disaster management and that the law will run its course faster in cases where fires are started with malicious intent. In many cases, water infrastructure is 50 years and older and subject to costly maintenance. This leads to big water losses that South Africa can’t afford and Agri Western Cape hopes the government’s focus will be on upgrading infrastructure, particularly in the light of the little progress over the past 22 years to ensure the country’s water needs for the next 50 years.”

Opperman said producers also needed support to increase dam capacity on farms, for the sake of food security for a growing population. “Current red tape makes this practically impossible. We expect government to solve the current water crisis in an economic rather than a political way.”

Anton van Heerden, managing director and executive vice-president for Africa and the Middle East at Sage, said the president and his cabinet will have their work cut out this year as they focus on reigniting growth and on socio-economic transformation.

“As always, we at Sage hope that he’ll have a few words for the country’s small and medium businesses. Sona traditionally outlines the grand vision for South African policy for the year with the finance minister’s Budget speech later in the month filling in the details about funding and implementation. Nonetheless, we’ll hopefully get some hints about how President Zuma hopes to address the challenge of accelerating economic growth while addressing inequality.”

Van Heerden said that despite uncertainty triggered by local and global political and economic events, more than half (54% ) of South African small and medium businesses in a recent Sage survey reported that they were confident about their prospects in the next six months.

“Our customers in small business sectors make life-sacrifices on which prosperity is built. They could be the catalyst to job creation and growth, if government heeds their voices.”

Trudi Makhaya, Mercantile Bank’s consulting economist, said the key organising principle of the address over the past two years had been the ninepoint plan to revitalise the economy.

“Once again, the economy will be at the centre of the president’s speech this year. The speech will highlight some successes scored under the plan and make commitments to intensify implementation on the rest, given the uneven progress recorded to date.

“This is the last Sona by President Zuma thus he will be keen to demonstrate how his administration has pursued ‘radical economic transformation’.”

Makhaya predicted that lowering barriers to entry to the economy would be a key theme.

WE EXPECT GOVERNMENT TO SOLVE THE CURRENT WATER CRISIS IN AN ECONOMIC RATHER THAN A POLITICAL WAY