Zuma pleads with miners

President Jacob Zuma has made an impassioned plea to mining bosses and trade unions to stop unnecessary strikes that lead job losses.

Delivering his State of the Nation address to a joint sitting of parliament last night, Zuma departed from his written speech to urge mining companies and workers to put the country's interests before their own.

He made the appeal as strikes continued at platinum mines in North West, where mineworkers belonging to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union are demanding that their basic wage be increased to R12 500.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has threatened to join the strike, and there are fears that the gold-mining sector could also be affected.

Zuma said no differences should lead to a loss of jobs.

"In no way can we have conflict that destroys the economy," he said. "I believe the mine owners care . that the mines should operate and should not stop. But I also believe that any leader of the union cares for the welfare of the workers. It must not be easy to make workers lose their jobs.

"I believe that trade union leaders [have a responsibility] to ensure that workers have good conditions, earn wages that are decent and that they do not lose jobs.

"If these two sides don't work together, even if they have different interests, it affects the economy of the country in the end and we need to bear this in mind as we negotiate," Zuma said.

The president said mining was one of the most important sectors of the economy, employing more than 500000 people and contributing more than R60-billion to tax revenue.

Zuma spoke out against the use of violence during service-delivery protests. He said the government understood the impatience of communities and the protests were a way of getting its attention.

"The dominant narrative in the case of the protests in South Africa has been to attribute them to alleged failures of government. However, the protests are not simply the result of failures" of government but also of the success in delivering basic services," said Zuma.

Protests have turned violent in several parts of the country, including North West, Gauteng and Eastern Cape.

Zuma slammed the use of violence during protests but kept mum on the promise he made last year to set up special courts to deal with such cases.

With the election looming in May, Zuma did not make any major announcements and instead used his speech to defend the achievements of the ANC-led government over the past 20 years.

Government plans for the next financial year would be announced by the new administration when it assumed office in June, he said.

But Zuma did not have it all his own way. When he referred to the fight against corruption, opposition members interrupted him with: "Maybe you should start with yourself". And when he announced that sign language would be included in the education curriculum, laughter, rooted in the sign-language fiasco at Nelson Mandela's memorial service, echoed around the chamber.

In a major disappointment for environmentalists, Zuma committed the government to shale gas exploration, commonly known as fracking.

He did not give too many pointers on how the government planned to handle the continuing global economic crisis, leaving the details to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who delivers the national Budget speech on the 26th of this month.

Zuma looked back at accomplishments since 1994, specifically the founding of a democratic state with the freedoms guaranteed in the constitution, in contrast to the apartheid order.

He specifically praised active civil society, the independent judiciary and the free press.

"All these attributes have made South Africa a much better place to live in now than it has ever been," Zuma said.

Nevertheless, he stated his unhappiness with the fight against unemployment. He recommitted his government to combating youth unemployment through the Employment Tax Incentive Act, which encourages employers to hire younger workers.

In relation to Cosatu's criticism of this legislation, Zuma promised that regulations would be passed to ensure this did not affect unsubsidised or older workers adversely.