DA urges Zuma to revive economic confidence

DA PARLIAMENTARY leader Mmusi Maimane has called on President Jacob Zuma to restore confidence in the economy and avert a recession in his state of the nation address next week.

Zuma will deliver the speech, which is expected to outline the government's plans for the next five years, to a joint sitting of parliament on Tuesday night. Maimane told a media briefing yesterday Zuma should announce five interventions which the DA believes can aid the economy.

They are:

•  Issuing a direct appeal to all involved in the platinum strike to compromise in the greater interest of the country;
•  Directly tackling corruption at all levels of government, for example by expediting the finalisation of the ministerial handbook;
•  Making a commitment to reduce the budget deficit through real austerity;
•  Improved foreign trade relations; and
•  Urgent action to contain inflation.

Maimane said Zuma was not proactive enough, and called for bold and courageous leadership by the president.

He said he believed mineworkers, whose jobs he considered to be the most dangerous in the country, should be paid better, but refused to be drawn on whether he thought the R12500 a month demanded by mining union Amcu was enough.

He urged the North West provincial government to prioritise housing provision in the platinum belt, claiming the "live out" housing allowance offered by mining firms caused miners to live in squalid conditions. - Jan-Jan Joubert