Stop talking our country down, says Zuma
2012-10-19 14:42
Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma has called for opinion-makers and opposition parties to stop talking the country down.
"We urge those who have access to the media from all sectors, including opposition politicians, to stop talking our country and economy down.
"No country should be made to withstand such negativity and total disregard of progress being made or any positive attribute. We wish to encourage public opinion-makers to also reflect the strides that have been made in all 18 years," he told the Presidential Infrastructure Investment Conference on Friday at the Sandton Convention Centre.
"Nothing could be more inspiring than working together collectively to build our country. We have to promote our country and boost confidence in the economy so that it can grow and create jobs," he said.
Freezing of salaries
Zuma complained about the media coverage of the freezing of salary hikes and bonuses of high income earners.
He said there was too much focus on the freezing of salaries and disregard for other matters agreed to in the meeting between him, business, unions and community representatives this week.
"I convened a high level dialogue with the leadership of business, labour and the community sector at the Union Buildings.
"We agreed on measures that will help restore normality in the economy, especially mining, while also dealing with the social inequalities and income disparities that cause frustrations among our people.
"We’ve released a full package, agreed to publicly, and it definitely goes beyond salaries and bonuses," Zuma said.
Give hope
"We have to give our people hope as indeed a lot is being done to create a better life, even though things may not be moving as fast as we all want them to, given the frustrations and the legacy of the past," he said.
On Friday Zuma told delegates from business, government, labour and community organisations that government would be spending R4 trillion on infrastructure projects in the next 15 years.
A total of R844bn would be spent on infrastructure projects in the next three years. Funding would be sourced from both the public and private sectors.
- SAPA
