Time to get serious about transformation, says Zuma
Political freedom is meaningless without economic freedom, the president says in his state of the nation address
President Jacob Zuma emphasised economic transformation as one of the government's key priorities in the coming year, in his state of the nation address on Thursday night. Political freedom was not enough but needed economic freedom as well to have any meaning. Fundamental change was needed in the ownership, management and control of the economy in favour of all South Africans - but especially the poor, who were mostly African, he said. The majority of blacks remained economically disempowered and the racial disparities in household income remained "shockingly huge". The pace of transformation in the workplace and the implementation of affirmative action policies remained very slow, with white males dominating the top echelons. These patterns needed to be corrected, Zuma stressed. He said the business community accepted these transformation imperatives. "We are starting a new chapter of radical economic transformation. We are saying that we must move beyond words to practical progra...
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