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"The ACDP welcomes President Zuma's first State of the Nation Address, which we believe was balanced, fair and raised hopes of improved service delivery. We believe the goal of ensuring that people needing help are treated with respect and dignity will go a long way in restoring confidence in government departments. In many departments people seeking help were treated as though they do not deserve help from government, and officials treated them as if they were doing them favour.

Regarding ten priorities outlined by the government, the ACDP needed more details on how some of these priorities will be realized. While we welcome the President's admission that we are in recession, we needed more details on how government will safeguard the 300 000 job losses as predicted by some economists.

We welcome government's intention to reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa, as we believe this will contribute to attracting new investments in our country. Reducing the regulatory burden on small businesses will also help stimulate growth of the economy.

The ACDP is equally, "seriously concerned about the deterioration of the quality of healthcare and we expected detailed steps that would be taken by the government to reverse this deterioration", but that was not done. A National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is a noble idea, but we wonder how will it be funded in this economic down turn. We are disappointed that the President did not give specific details about remuneration of health care professionals, but safe to say the government is paying urgent attention to it. We believe demands made by doctors and other healthcare workers for salary increases are reasonable and must be met urgently.

On the Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup, we heard over the news that some experts do not believe that these will be a success because of rampart crime in this country.
The President had an opportunity to tell us about the new strategy and policies to fight crime, but he did not, except to say that "we will intensify fight against crime and corruption". Government correctly changed the "relevant Safety and Security Ministry to police to emphasize that we want real operational energy in police work". We ask whether changing the name of the ministry will change the criminals' respect to the rule of law. The ACDP believes that while this is a step in the right direction, criminals must be punished and taught that crime does not pay.

The President has renewed hope that our mostly dysfunctional schools will be turned into centres of excellence, and the ACDP welcomes that. The ACDP will support all government efforts to encourage all pupils to complete the secondary education. It is not enough for the President to say government is concerned about reports of teachers who sexually abuse and harass children, particularly the girls. The ACDP believes the President should have given a clear warning that such teachers will be expelled and barred from teaching in any of our schools for a certain period until they are properly rehabilitated.

The ACDP welcomes and supports an international campaign initiated by Nelson Mandela Foundation to celebrate Mandela Day. We will support the call by the President "to spend at least 67 minutes of our time doing something useful, especially among the less fortune". This is another noble idea that will help channel the energy to young people towards doing something constructive in schools and communities."