Cosatu's spokesman Patrick Craven said on Wednesday (13 February) that Zuma needs to base his speech on jobs, education, health, crime and corruption and rural development.
These are the five policy priorities defined by the African National Congress in its 2009 election manifesto.
"On decent work, we hope to hear that progress is being made on the decent work agenda, particularly in the light of last week's grim figures from Statistics SA on employment," said Craven.
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics SA last week revealed that the country's labour force had decreased by 235,000 people between the third and fourth quarters of 2012.
"This confirms the structural nature of our triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality, which requires bold developmental policies to restructure the economy we inherited from colonialism and apartheid," he said.
Cosatu also expected Zuma to shed some light on the improvement of the quality of work.
"Far too many jobs have been casualised, and we have still not ended the scourge of labour broking. It must be completely banned," Craven said.
Cosatu also expected Zuma to report on plans to transform the crisis-ridden "two-tier" education system.
"Our big challenge is how to keep 55% of learners who drop out in school until Grade 12 and equip them with the skills and qualifications which they, and society, need."
The National Insurance Health scheme would also probably be detailed in the state-of-the-nation speech.
Craven said Cosatu expected Zuma to outline the government's stance on corruption and crime.
Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge
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