South African President Jacob Zuma delivers the first State of the Nation address of his second term on Tuesday, under pressure to outline plans for reviving growth and creating much-needed jobs in Africa’s most advanced economy.
A double blow from ratings agencies last week underlined the precarious state of the economy, which contracted in the first quarter.
South Africans will also be closely watching Zuma himself after he was hospitalised this month with fatigue.
The 72-year-old was quickly discharged after “routine tests”, his office said a week ago.
However, he handed over the reins to his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa for five days to give himself time to recover from the rigours of preparing for the May 7 election.
Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC) won a 62% majority in the vote, the fifth since the end of apartheid in 1994, but the ruling party has had little to cheer about since the result.
A five-month strike in the platinum mines is dragging the economy towards recession and the impact on broader growth and government finances prompted Fitch to put South Africa on a negative outlook and Standard & Poor’s to cut its credit rating on Friday.
Hitherto, Zuma had relied almost exclusively on a National Development Plan (NDP) drawn up in his first term as his broad blue-print for promoting long-term growth.
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