Amongst the key achievements of the team, South Africa introduced its first ever training layoff scheme to provide alternatives to retrenchments. Another intervention included financial support for firms in distress, which saved about seven thousand jobs. We thank the team for their sterling work, and look forward to ongoing collaboration. While looking to the private sector in particular to help us create most of the jobs, government will certainly play its part.
We are pleased to announce the establishment of a jobs fund of 9 billion rand over the next three years to finance new job-creation initiatives. In addition, the Industrial Development Corporation has set aside R10 billion over the next five years for investment in such economic activities with a high jobs potential. It is also my pleasure Honourable Members, to announce R20 billion in tax allowances or tax breaks to promote investments, expansions and upgrades in the manufacturing sector.
For a project to qualify, the minimum investment must be R million for new projects, and R30 million for expansion and upgrades. The programme will provide an allowance of up to R million in tax deductible allowances rand for new investors and R million for upgrades and expansions. We will continue to provide financial and non-financial support to small, medium, and micro enterprises SMMEs , small scale agriculture as well as cooperatives. We need to cut administrative costs, avoid duplication and direct more resources to small business.
The Department of Trade and Industry payment hotline received about 20 calls in the last financial year, and the value of payments facilitated was R million. We are continuing with legislative reforms to make it easier to register businesses and also to strengthen the Competition Act to open the market to new participants.
The mineral wealth of our country is a national asset and a common heritage that belongs to all South Africans, with the State as the custodian. Estimates suggest that our mineral resources are expected to be exploitable for over a century to come. To take advantage of that potential, government has endorsed the African Exploration, Mining and Finance Corporation as the State Owned Mining Company, that will undertake the mining of minerals of strategic significance.
In communications, we have committed to convert our television and radio signals from the analogue platform to the more advanced digital signal which will enable quality pictures and sound. Jobs will be created in manufacturing, packaging, distribution and installation during this period.
We are pleased with the success of our tourism sector, especially given that sixteen tourists create one job in our country. More than 7, 3 million tourists arrived in South Africa last year, as compared to about 6. For further growth, we will strengthen existing markets while exploring the emerging economies. To further boost our tourism potential, we will amongst other measures, look into flexible visa requirements, improved landing slots at foreign airports as well as improved tourism infrastructure.
Linked to tourism, we will continue to develop the cultural industries sector, which contributes about R2 billion to the Gross Domestic Product.
We have also seen the value of events such as the Cape Town International Jazz Festival which, contributed more than R million to the economy of Cape Town and created 2 jobs in We also wish to extend a special mention to the popular Cape Minstrels Carnival, which brightens up this city every year on the 2 nd of January, celebrating the freeing of slaves.
Our infrastructure development programme enables us to expand access to basic services and to improve the quality of life. Energy security is critical for economic development and job creation.
To ensure the security of electricity supply for the country, Eskom has invested more than R75 billion, mainly on the new stations Medupi, Kusile and Ingula, as well as the return to service and transmission of other projects. We must all save energy so that we do not have to resort to load shedding again as a saving measure. This year we will start procuring power from Renewable Energy Power Producers, which will demonstrate our commitment to renewable energy. The construction industry is a known driver for work opportunities.
There are 1. By the year , of the said households should have security of tenure and access to basic services. We will also improve the delivery of rental accommodation as some people coming to urban areas do not intend to settle permanently. This should be welcome news to citizens such as Portia Busisiwe Mrwetyana who wrote on our Facebook page about inequalities in Bekkersdal, where an informal settlement which has no services, lies alongside a suburb across the road with all amenities.
Government will spend R2,6 billion on water services this year. Among the priority areas are the provinces of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape where there are still high numbers of people without safe drinking water. Our Expanded Public Works Programme aims to create 4, 5 million work opportunities, and more than a million opportunities have been created already since the beginning of Phase 2.
Part of the programme focuses on repairing our roads networks. Abantu abaningi bakithi bathola ukusizakala kakhulu ngaloluhlelo lwamatoho emisebenzi kahulumeni. Kutholakala amatoho okulungisa imigwaqo, ezemidlalo, ukufundisa abadala ukufunda nokubhala, ukugcina imigqwaqo ihlanzekile. Uhlelo lokulungisa imigwaqo, olubizwa nge-Zibambele, seluzosatshalaliswa izwe lonke kulonyaka luvule amathuba emisebenzi. We will develop infrastructure that will boost our agricultural sector, while also helping to create jobs.
Water reservoirs, windmills and irrigation schemes will be rehabilitated. Crops, livestock as well as grazing will be protected with the installation of fences. These projects will enhance food security and create work opportunities for many, especially women in rural areas. To enhance our innovation in science and technology and create jobs, we are bidding to host the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.
The bid has already provided construction job opportunities in the Northern Cape and will create a further jobs this year. The National Youth Development agency is in discussion with state organs and the private sector to mainstream youth development in public sector programmes and to promote youth enterprises and cooperatives. We believe that the interventions we have mentioned briefly will take us forward in placing job creation high on the agenda of all decision makers in the country.
Seven Ministers met with our social partners on Tuesday to discuss this partnership and we remain optimistic that we are poised for success. Parallel to the job creation incentives, we will also undertake policy reforms related to improving the lives of our workers. Government, with its social partners, is reviewing legislation on labour brokers and the policy framework for the provision of public employment services.
Issues to be dealt with include the funding and nature of the National Social Security Fund, how the private sector occupational and retirement funds will fit into the entire system, and the possible regulatory structure.
Government must fill all funded vacant posts. The performance monitoring and evaluation department will provide a report within six months. Indeed, we have come a long way since We have achieved a lot, but much more still needs to be done, and working together as South Africans, we will achieve much more!
We reiterate our call that teachers must be at school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day. The administration must ensure that every child has a textbook on time, and that we assist our teachers to create the right working environment for quality teaching to take place.
To track progress, this year, we began the annual national assessments in literacy and numeracy that are internationally benchmarked, for grades 3, 6 and 9. We will pay special attention to the training of principals, particularly those in underperforming schools.
Students in Further Education and Training Colleges who qualify for financial aid will be exempted from paying fees. We urge state owned enterprises to play a key role in skills development and help us provide the technical skills needed by the economy. Denel, Eskom, SAA and Transnet have supported the training of more than 6 learners in technical and engineering-related scarce and critical skills. We are continuing to improve the capacity and effectiveness of the police in particular the detective services, forensic analysts and crime intelligence.
We have increased visible policing and patrols in identified hotspots. We are making visible progress in reducing the proliferation of illegal and legal firearms.
Our courts continue to function better, and the backlog reduction programmes at district and regional levels are proceeding well. We will continue to prioritise crimes against women and children, and to provide support through the Thuthuzela Care Centres. We will work with communities and other key stakeholders to deal with drug peddling and drug abuse which are tearing some communities apart.
My visit to a drug rehabilitation centre in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday convinced me that we need more energy in the fight against drug abuse and drug peddling in our communities. I have directed our police force to deal decisively with people who sell drugs to children in Cape Town and other areas.
We will also not tolerate tavern owners who sell alcohol to children. A Special Anti-Corruption Unit has been established in the Department of Public Service and Administration to handle corruption-related disciplinary cases involving public servants. About R44 million has been recovered from public servants who are illegally benefiting from housing subsidies, while the cleaning of the social grants system of fraud is also continuing.
We have directed the Special Investigating Unit to probe alleged maladministration or corruption in various government departments, municipalities and institutions. While not pre-judging the investigations, they prove our resolve to combat corruption at all levels of Government and the public service. In the health sector, this year we will emphasise the appointment of appropriate and qualified personnel to the right positions. We need qualified heads of department, chief financial officers, hospital chief executive officers, district health officers and clinic managers.
We are also planning to open a medical faculty at the Limpopo Academic Hospital to train more doctors. On the fight against HIV and AIDS, we have revitalised our programmes and promote various prevention measures including medical male circumcision, prevention of mother to child transmission and the promotion of HIV testing.
The testing has been popularly taken up around the country. Just over 5 million HIV tests have been done since the launch of the testing campaign in April last year. Over the past year, work has continued to develop the National Health Insurance policy and implementation plan. READ: Aquino appeals to supporters, belittles critics. There are distinct similarities across his previous SONAs — among them, a continued failure to mention the importance of passing the Freedom of Information FOI bill despite a clamor from civil society organizations.
For his first SONA, Aquino focused on exposing irregularities allegedly committed by the previous administration. He claimed that some government agencies were overflowing with funds, while the whole nation suffered from a limited budget. He specified the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, saying that agency officials and some employees were earning huge amounts of salaries and allowances.
It was envisioned to investigate the alleged corruption under the Arroyo administration. Aquino began his second SONA by highlighting his campaign to fight the "utak wang-wang" mentality in the government, which is characterized by abuse among corrupt officials. President Manuel L. Thereafter, the date of the opening of the sessions of the National Assembly were fixed, pursuant to Commonwealth Act No.
Commonwealth Act No. With the approval of Commonwealth Act No. However, there were instances when President Quezon would deliver a speech to the National Assembly, calling the legislature into a special session to enact a certain law or bring certain issues to the floor for immediate attention. This was done on July 25, , when President Quezon called on the National Assembly regarding the election law and other immediate concerns.
This was not a SONA since no mention of the state of the country was given in the speech. President Quezon delivered his sixth and last SONA on January 31, , as he would already be in exile the following year because of the Japanese occupation. President Jose P. Laurel of the Second Philippine Republic was able to deliver his first and only message before the special session of the National Assembly, led by Speaker Benigno Aquino, on October 18, , four days after the Republic was established.
This also took place in the Legislative Building, Manila. However, Laurel, who was one of the delegates who drafted the Constitution , pointed out in his address that the Constitution did not provide for a report to the Legislature on the state of the nation and that his speech was not a SONA. His message before the assembly, therefore, is not included in the roster of SONAs.
With the defeat of the Imperial Japanese forces and the reestablishment of the Commonwealth Government in the Philippines, the Congress of the Philippines, elected in as a bicameral body, convened on June 9, This was the second time the SONA was delivered before a special session. Furthermore, he described the conditions prevailing in the Philippines during the period of occupation and an acknowledgment of the invaluable assistance rendered by the guerrillas to the American forces in the liberation of the Philippines.
Starting in , the address was held at the reconstructed Legislative Building. Marcos on January 26, marked the start of the First Quarter Storm, a period of unrest brought about by student-led political demonstrations that took place in Manila from January to March On September 23, , President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared Martial Law. Congress was padlocked before it was due to commence on January 22, when there was supposed to be a SONA.
From onward, the SONA was delivered on the fourth Monday of July, following the provisions of the and, later, Constitutions. The only exceptions have been in , when the SONA was delivered on January 17 to commemorate the anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution and the second anniversary of the lifting of martial law, and in , when President Corazon C.
Aquino, who had declared a revolutionary government, did not deliver any SONA. With the restoration of Congress in , President Corazon C. This marked the return of the Constitutional requirement. We have been made instruments of this will. Presidents Corazon C. Aquino , Fidel V. Video courtesy of Thought Equity Motion. List of all State of the Nation Addresses. About the Legislative Branch. Congress and the Presidency.
Aquino III. First Republic — The First Philippine Republic borrowed from the European parliamentary tradition, wherein the head of state ceremonially opened sessions of the National Assembly.
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