Are the president's state of the nation pledges honoured?

CAPE Town is used to it. In the second week of February, politics and politicians take centre stage. Security is tightened up, streets adjoining the parliamentary precinct are cordoned-off and the red carpet is laid out for the pomp and ceremony that marks the opening of parliament.

President Jacob Zuma has changed the rules of the game somewhat. Instead of opening parliament on a Friday morning, in sync with his ANC predecessors, he has moved the opening to a prime-time slot on a Thursday evening.

On said evening once a year, Zuma becomes the nation's star attraction as his address is beamed live to millions of South African homes, and families dine on a speech filled with lofty promises of a better future.

In a year in which he will face his sternest test - an ANC elective conference that could in effect secure him another term as South Africa' s president - Zuma knows he is under pressure to prove to the nation, to sc eptics and detractors alike, that he has delivered, and convince them of his grand plans moving forward.

However, a quick analysis of the promises he made in last year's state of the nation address uncovers a mixed bag of minimal achievements.

Zuma went bold last year and dubbed 2011 "the year of jobs". Although he did not commit himself to an actual figure, his government had set itself a target of creating five million new jobs by 2014.

As things turned out, 2011 was a year in which the global economy had to absorb the aftershocks of the crippling 2008 global financial crisis.

In November, Zuma finally conceded that the jobs target would have to be revised downwards due to global economic concerns beyond the government's control.

According to the third-quarter Labour Force Survey, employment had increased by 343000 (or 2.6%) compared with the year before, and unemployment grew by 46000. The number of discouraged work-seekers increased by 171000 (or 8.4%).

The Department of Trade and Industry is tight-lipped on a tax incentives scheme, amounting to more than R30-billion, that Zuma said would be introduced to promote new investment and upgrades in the labour-intensive manufacturing sector.

Departmental officials said Zuma would present a progress report on whether there had been a reasonable uptake by potential investors.

Zuma is also expected to give a progress report on the second phase of the expanded public works programme, which he said would create 4.5million work opportunities.

The president promised that all funded, vacant government posts would be filled this year.

A report released in October last year by the Minister of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, said 15000 funded vacant public sector posts remained unfilled.

The government's position paper on social security reform, which Zuma promised would be released in 2011, is still stuck somewhere on the slow conveyor belt of bureaucracy.

Zuma will also not be pleased to learn that the planned conversion of television and radio signals from analogue to digital - which was due to begin in April this year - has been moved to the third quarter of the year.

On the international front, engagements with parties in Zimbabwe for a road map leading to elections are being frustrated by bickering between Zanu-PF and the MDC over the implementation of the Global Political Agreement.

And South Africa's African Union-mandated mediation in Libya was grossly undermined by the Nato-led bombing of that country and the subsequent killing of long-time ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

But it's not all doom and gloom for Zuma. He lived up to his promise of signing proclamations for the Special Investigating Unit to probe corruption and maladministration in various government departments and municipalities.

The long-awaited green paper on the proposed National Health Insurance scheme is out, even though it is thin on how the ambitious scheme should be funded.

Literacy and numeracy assessments tests in grades 3, 6 and 9 were finally undertaken - but the results proved a bit embarrassing for education authorities as the majority of pupils scored below 40%.

Measured against the promises he made last year, Zuma's own delivery score as he prepares for this year's address is also under par.