There was nothing new in South Africa’s economic recovery plan that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced to a joint sitting of Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday, opposition leaders have said.
The recovery plan is meant to set the country on the path to recovery following the loss of 2.2 million jobs during the second quarter of this year due to the economic recession and lockdown designed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
The plan’s main focus is job creation by focusing on infrastructure investment, re-industrialisation of the economy and acceleration of economic reforms, among other things.
Ramaphosa also announced the creation of more than 800,000 jobs and an extension of Covid-19 income grants for another three months.
But opposition parties said they were not impressed by the South African leader’s plan to get the country’s economy up on its feet, saying Ramaphosa did not go far enough in announcing reforms and the plans were not new.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said the economic revival plan was “not different from what he has been telling us from the last three state of the nation addresses.”
“Sometimes it’s like a cut and paste job from his previous speeches,” Holomisa said.
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald described Ramaphosa’s speech as “really disappointing” and said the South African leader had said nothing new.
“How many times have we heard that there is going to be infrastructure development? How long are we going to hear about renewable energy?
“How long are we going to hear that he is going to be creating jobs? What he announced this afternoon is actually an extension of social grants,” Groenewald said.
Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said “South Africa does not need a plan for two years’ time or three years’ time. It needs a plan for now.”
“We are in an economic crisis, we have massive unemployment and we need investment and growth,” Steenhuisen said.
NM/jn/APA