South Africa Plans Big Infrastructure Campaign

DONNA BRYSON

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's president announced ambitious infrastructure projects Thursday, laying out his plans for creating jobs and hope in nation harder hit than most in Africa by global recession.

"The massive investment in infrastructure must leave more than just power stations, rail lines, dams and roads," Zuma said in his nationally televised state of the nation address to parliament in Cape Town. "It must industrialize the country, generate skills and boost much needed job creation."

His plan spanned the country, from a dam in the southwestern homeland of former President Nelson Mandela to a rail and road network and new water systems to boost prospects for mining in Limpopo, a province in the far northeast that is among the nation's poorest and often pointed to as among the most corrupt.

He did not say how much the program would cost. His finance minister may offer details in a budget speech later this month.

Zuma was elected in 2009 to a five-year term, taking office just as the global recession hit South Africa, which is sub-Saharan Africa's biggest economy but has been burdened by high rates of poverty, unemployment and inequality despite years of buoyant growth. Across Africa, the recession had been delayed, leading many to initially think Africa would be spared.

Zuma was applauded during his speech when he mentioned unemployment figures of 23.9 percent released earlier in the week. The figure, for the end of 2011, would spark panic in the West, but represented the biggest growth in employment for South Africa since its 2009 recession. Government statisticians said that 365,000 more South Africans were working in the fourth quarter of 2011 than in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

Zuma's African National Congress party in 2010 set itself a daunting target of creating 5 million jobs by 2020. But its own finance minister has estimated that would require growth of over 6 percent a year. South Africa has been and is predicted to continue to be well short of that, in part because of the global recession.