South African president to deliver State of the Nation address

Feb 9, 2012, 14:05 GMT

Johannesburg - South African President Jacob Zuma was to deliver his annual State of the Nation address to parliament later on Thursday, with citizens looking for the country's leader to lay out concrete plans for sustainable economic growth.

Labour data released this week shows that Africa's largest economy continues to have a high unemployment rate - currently at around 24 per cent - despite several presidential pledges to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The business community was expected to hear from Zuma, now in his third year in office, a clear promise that he will not resort to nationalization as his economic roadmap.

There are also calls for the president to speed up land reforms, which are seen as key to helping South Africa recover from its Apartheid past, when the non-white majority was allowed only limited land ownership rights.

Critics of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) also want the president to lay out a method for battling graft. Numerous scandals have rocked the ANC since it entered government after the first democratic election in 1994.

Ordinary South Africans were encouraged to tell the president how they feel in a special Facebook page called 'Dear Mr President.'

Frequent issues raised by citizens included rhino poaching, the shabby quality of public transport, housing for the poor, the state of the country's health service and rampant crime.

However, it was the economy that dominated the page, with many citizens begging the president to do something about unemployment.

'Dear Mr President, Will you please create jobs for us youth. Please, please, please. I'm unemployed,' wrote Walter, from an area outside Johannesburg, the country's economic hub.