Sona speech fell short on 'many issues' – Cosatu

President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) in Parliament fell short on many issues and failed to chart a path for economic recovery. Polity reports that this was according to Cosatu, which said Zuma’s speech showed no plan on how to create desperately needed jobs. ‘We did not hear any concrete plans to dismantle the economic legacy we inherited from apartheid, nothing was concretely offered on how to rebuild the manufacturing industry, to eliminate the apartheid wage structure, to change the macro-economic policies, including using state-owned companies to restructure the economy. Cosatu is disappointed at government’s lack of a clear and concrete programme to ensure decent permanent jobs for all South Africans. Such a plan needs to bridge the gap that currently exists between business and labour and also needs to be premised upon a living wage for all and not cheap and precarious labour. We expected the Sona to also include specific targets, per sector per month.’