President Jacob Zuma says South Africa is making steady progress in building an inclusive economy that will create jobs.

The President on Wednesday responded to a debate on the Presidency’s Budget Vote in the National Assembly.

“Deputy President [Cyril] Ramaphosa said yesterday that the country is not on a slippery slope, and that we are on an upward slope, making steady progress. Indeed, we stand by our statement that the country is making progress.

“Some of the Honourable Members on the Opposition benches need to accept the fact that reversing the legacy of apartheid will take decades. The damage was extensive,” he said.

The President said the damage caused by the structure of the apartheid economy will also take longer to transform.

“We will continue to work steadily towards this goal, so that we build an inclusive economy that will create jobs and help us build a better life for our people,” he said.

Government had set a goal of growing the economy by a rate of 5% by 2019. The President said government was recommitted to the growth target because all sectors of the country must make an effort and play their part to achieve inclusive growth.

The quarterly Stats SA reports help us to keep track of progress and to enhance our efforts, the President said.

“Honourable [Themba] Godi warned that we should guard against a sense of normality about the poverty and suffering of the poor.

“You also reminded us that the greatest challenge of our time remains the fight against unemployment, inequality and poverty which remains a disproportionate burden of the African people in general and the working class in particular.

“Indeed, we will never rest for as long as there are still people with no food to put on the table in our country,” he said.

Interventions to ignite growth

The President said government’s economic cluster was hard at work implementing the nine-point growth plan that he announced during the State of the Nation Address in February.

The plan is a response to the four big challenges that slow down the country’s growth, including the current electricity shortages.

“Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina provided an update on what we are doing to promote economic growth, including enhancing trade with the continent and globally.

“Honourable Members also raised the issue of load shedding. This is also being addressed.

“Government has completed a medium term outlook model for the supply and demand of electricity,” he said.

The model indicates that demand will exceed supply for the next 24 to 36 months.

To increase supply, Eskom was implementing a structured planned maintenance programme to ensure that the availability of all power stations is improved.

“Eskom has also commissioned the supply of 100 Megawatts from the Sere Wind Farm here in the Western Cape, while 827 Megawatts of cogeneration contracts have been signed, adding much needed capacity.

“It must be noted that Eskom added 160 000 households to the electricity grid in the past financial year, which added to the demand of electricity,” he said.

He said that while Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown has tasked Eskom with accelerating the completion of the build programme, she has also directed the utility to improve its project management and contracting in order to increase the generation capacity of the existing fleet.