State of the Nation Address

The 2012 State of the Nation Address by President Jacob G Zuma outlines a 'massive infrastructure development drive' designed to combat the 'triple challenge' of unemployment, poverty, and inequality in South Africa. The address details strategic investments in transport, mining, and social infrastructure, while reporting on progress in job creation, education, and land reform.

• The South African government is launching a 'massive infrastructure development drive' overseen by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), which coordinates projects across national, provincial, and local government departments.
• Transnet's Market Demand Strategy involves a 300 billion rand investment over seven years, with 200 billion rand dedicated to rail and the remainder primarily for ports, including expanding the Iron Ore Export channel to 82 million tons per annum.
• The government identifies five major geographically-focussed infrastructure programmes: integrating rail, road, and water in Limpopo (Waterberg and Steelpoort); a Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics corridor; a South Eastern node in the Eastern Cape; water and transport expansion in the North West; and iron-ore rail expansion between Sishen and Saldanha Bay.
• To address energy sustainability and costs, the government is targeting the installation of one million solar geysers by 2014-2015, having already installed over 220,000.
• The government reports a decline in unemployment from 25% to 23.9% in the fourth quarter of 2011, with 365,000 new jobs created, primarily in the formal sector.
• Land redistribution progress is noted as slow, with only 8% of the 30% target for 2014 achieved, leading to the introduction of the Green Paper on Land Reform to replace the 'willing buyer- willing seller' approach.
• Education achievements include doubling Grade R enrolment from 300,000 in 2003 to 705,000 in 2011, with a goal of 100% coverage by 2014.
• The government is investing 248 million rand over two years to address Acid Mine Drainage in Witwatersrand, following commitments made at the COP 17 climate change conference.

APA

Zuma, J. G. (2012). State of the Nation Address. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/news/sona-2012-a-massive-infrastructure-development-drive

Chicago

Zuma, Jacob G. State of the Nation Address. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2012. https://cer.org.za/news/sona-2012-a-massive-infrastructure-development-drive.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Zuma |first1=Jacob G |title=State of the Nation Address |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=9 February 2012 |url=https://cer.org.za/news/sona-2012-a-massive-infrastructure-development-drive |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{zuma2012state, author = {Zuma, Jacob G}, title = {{State of the Nation Address}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2012}, month = feb, url = {https://cer.org.za/news/sona-2012-a-massive-infrastructure-development-drive}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }