President Jacob Zuma on Thursday promised a period of “socio-economic transformation” after the May 7 elections.<\/p>\n
Zuma told MPs government would launch a drive to tackle poverty and inequality and ensure that affirmative action was stepped up.<\/p>\n
Responding in the National Assembly to debate on his state-of-the-nation address, Zuma said opposition parties who decried affirmative action were ignoring the damage apartheid had caused.<\/p>\n
“It provokes a debate we don’t want to enter into. I think it is a wrong cry.”<\/p>\n
He said whites still controlled senior management positions in business and this had to change to make economic freedom a reality for the majority of South Africans.<\/p>\n
Zuma also responded to criticism that he had allowed government debt to soar to unacceptable levels.<\/p>\n
He conceded it was at its lowest in 2008 – the year before he came to power – at 27 percent of GDP – but said, though it was forecast to reach 45% in 2015, that was “still relatively low”.<\/p>\n
Opposition parties have been scathing in their criticism of Zuma’s last state-of-the-nation address before the country goes to the polls, and ridiculed his statement that the ruling party would only unveil its future policies after the vote.<\/p>\n
A survey conducted in October,\u00a0by Futurefact found that both black and white middle-class South African\u2019s believe that\u00a0that the best person should be given the job regardless of race or gender.<\/p>\n
Futurefact<\/a>, a body of independent researchers, said it\u00a0explored the similarities and differences between black and white South Africans who self-classify themselves as middle-class\u00a0or upper-middle class.<\/p>\n It found that\u00a085% of black respondents were against\u00a0affirmative\u00a0action, while 91% of white respondents were against the policy.<\/p>\n More than three-quarters of all respondents, however, feel that \u201conly a few people have really benefited from black economic empowerment\u201d.<\/p>\nMore on Jacob Zuma<\/h3>\n