“We have to work further in 2016 to achieve broader and more meaningful black economic empowerment and participation in the economy,” Zuma said in his new year message.
In the short-term, for many of the South African people, including unemployed graduates and all young people, success in 2016 will mean finding jobs, the president said.
“We will continue to focus on the areas we had mentioned in the 2015 State of the Nation Address, in what we called the Nine Point Plan to ignite economic growth and create jobs,” he said, urging labour and business to closely work with the government to create an enabling environment for inclusive growth and job creation.
Opportunities will be further explored in agriculture, mining, small business development, energy, ocean economy, transport, and telecommunications, Zuma said.
For the past year, the president said that millions of children of the poor and the working class received free basic education and nutrition in schools, and more schools were built to improve the learning environment.
Also more elderly people and the poor receive free medical care in government health facilities, Zuma said, adding that South Africans life expectancy is now 62 years of age, an increase of eight percent since 2005. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
