South African President Jacob Zuma delivered his State of the Nation address on Thursday, touching on the issues facing Africa’s largest economy. Zuma presented new infrastructure projects and the stabilization of the fast-growing economy as priorities for the country. He said that by the end of March, the government will have spent almost $100 billion on infrastructure over the last four years. He also focused on concerns over the country’s mining industry, which accounts for a large portion of the country’s economy, exporting resources internationally.
Last year South African officials were the target of intense criticism for the handling of several miners’ strikes across the country. During a strike last August at a Marikana platinum mine, miners and police engaged in weeklong violent altercations, culminating in the deaths of 34 miners. South African police wounded an additional 74 miners during the incident, and charged 270 miners involved with the strike with the murder of their allies.
Though the charges were eventually dropped, tens of thousands of South Africans became involved with the country’s mining strikes in September and October, demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Zuma was not apologetic for the government’s handling of the strikes however, instead issuing a warning to future protesters.
“There are some lessons from Marikana and other incidents that we cannot allow to recur in our country,” he said.
Zuma also said that the government would review its tax policies to ensure that lucrative mining projects were properly funding the state.
“From time to time, we have commissioned studies into our tax policies, to evaluate the extent to which they meet the requirements of the fiscus,” Zuma said during the address.
South Africa’s mines are privately owned, and Zuma denied any attempts on behalf of the government to nationalize them under his administration.
South Africa-based Anglo American Platinum, the world’s largest platinum producer, fired 12,967 workers during the strike, and it has announced that an additional 14,000 workers may lose their jobs in the coming months. Zuma said that he is working to intervene in that situation.
“Two weeks ago, I had a meeting in Pretoria with Sir John Parker, the chairman of Anglo American Platinum, to discuss the reported plans to restructure and retrench 14,000 workers,” he said.
