Affirmative action to intensify: JZ

President Jacob Zuma has defended his "good story" narrative despite it having been lampooned by opposition parties in the National Assembly.

Zuma, closing a debate on his State of the Nation address, hit back at his detractors yesterday by promising economic freedom should the ANC be re-elected in the May elections.

"We have achieved political freedom, now we must achieve economic freedom, and ensure that the ownership, management and control of the economy is deracialised further," Zuma said.

Opposition parties had put on a united front against him, accusing him of failing to deliver jobs and reversing the legacy of Mandela.

The DA rubbished his narrative of "we have a good story to tell", saying his administration had only a "story of greed to tell".

But yesterday Zuma resisted the temptation to trade insults with the opposition and instead gave a glimpse of what his priorities would be after the elections.

He said his government would intensify the implementation of affirmative action this year, despite Freedom Front Plus Leader Pieter Mulder having complained about the policy on Tuesday.

The president dismissed Mulder's criticism of affirmative action as unnecessary.

Though the number of black people and women in senior management positions had increased from 10% in 1990 to 40% this year, this was not good enough, he said.

Zuma fired a broadside at the DA-led governments of the City of Cape town and of the Western Cape, describing the city as "two cities in one".

He slated the DA for claiming that social grants were creating a culture of dependency on the state among the poor, accusing the party of not understanding the historical suffering of the black majority.