Enterprise support, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SME's), could be a key theme of President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address in Parliament tomorrow, organised business said on Wednesday.

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said it hoped the President would seek to strengthen an entrepreneurial culture in the country, especially among small and emerging businesses.

“We believe it is in small business that the greatest potential lies for realising South Africa’s employment targets. The burden of regulation on business therefore needs to be lightened to encourage business expansion,” it said.

South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) CEO Neren Rau added that it would seek clarity on how the country would reduce regulatory bottlenecks and red tape for SMEs and business in general, especially the cost of doing business in South Africa.

He said general business support, promotion initiatives and plans to ease access to finance for smaller businesses through the realignment of development finance institutions should receive attention in the speech.

Zuma’s speech should underpin investor confidence, the business organisations said.

Rau commented that the President needed to reassure foreign and domestic investors on economic stability, specifically relating to concerns on nationalisation.

Busa expected Zuma’s message to give a firm sense that 2012 was the year of accelerated implementation of agreed upon and funded policies and programmes.

The prioritisation of job creation, poverty reduction, education, economic transformation, infrastructural development and growth must be invested with a new sense of urgency.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) hoped the President’s speech would contain “good news” on the progress of implementing the plans contained in the New Growth Path and the Industrial Policy Action Plan.

“These plans - restructuring the economy from one dominated by mining, heavy chemicals and finance, to one that is labour-absorbing and environmentally sound - remain the key to reaching the government’s goal of creating five-million decent, sustainable jobs by 2020,” it said.

South Africa, having been ranked as one the worst performers in labour market efficiency, required direction from Zuma on labour legislation, minimum wages, particularly for new entrants into the labour market, housing arrangements, tenure security and yearly wage agreements, said AgriSA president Johannes Möller.

Further, Möller called for stronger collaboration between the agricultural sector and government to ensure the agriculture sector contributed to job creation.

“As a country we need to address unemployment as a matter of urgency, taking specific cognisance of the fact that the current tax base cannot sustainably support 15-million South Africans obtaining grants from the State. To really become a successful developmental State, domestic policies need to favour investment and employment creation,” he said.

Cosatu said that the government should also commit to the acceleration of land reform and assist new farm owners in using their land productively, which could create jobs and ensure food security.

The trade union federation and Sacci also said that they wanted to see how obstacles such as basic education quality, skills development, local procurement and green jobs would be confronted.

Further, concrete measures should be in place to deal with other challenges including crime and corruption, decent work, sustainable livelihoods, education, healthcare and food security.

Meanwhile, Congress of the People spokesperson Nick Koornhof said that Zuma should make it clear that he was in full support of the National Treasury and that he would not tolerate bad spending and ineffective implementation.

Following Fitch and Moody’s downgrade of South Africa’s credit rating, the President should not ignore the perception that the Treasury’s grip on financial policy was less tight than in the past, Koornhof said.

Möller agreed, adding that the country was currently not attractive to foreign direct investment and, the downgrade and the country’s fall from the Global Competitiveness Index’s top 50 competitive countries, further impacted on investment.

“We appreciate the few pockets of excellence that do exist in the public service but alleged wasteful expenditure running into billions of rand, a lack of clean audits for various government departments, various provincial departments being placed under administration and widespread fraud contradict Zuma’s previous statement that the country has Parliament that is vibrant and holds the executive accountable,” he explained.

Busa also hoped that the address would underpin investor confidence and the role of business in strengthening economic recovery and promoting growth.