SONA word cloud: Priorities that stood out

People’s Assembly has created two word clouds, one for the 2009-2013 State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs) and another for the most recent SONA, which focused on priorities for President Jacob Zuma’s second term. Word clouds are images that consist of words, in which the size of each word denotes its frequency or importance. Hence, the bigger the word, the more frequently it was mentioned. See below for five priorities picked up in the word cloud for the President’s most recent SONA address.

Word Cloud: State of the Nation Addresses 2009-2013

Word Cloud: State of the Nation Address June 2014

Energy:

The word “energy” in the 2009-2013 word cloud is barely visible compared to the 2014 word cloud. Although energy has been addressed in SONAs over the past years, it seemed to take centre stage at this year’s SONA. The President admitted that radical transformation was needed in the energy sector to cater to the country’s energy demands. The focus of this administration will be “to develop a sustainable energy mix that comprises coal, solar, wind, hydro, gas and nuclear energy,” he said. According to Zuma, shale gas will be a “game changer for the economy”.

Infrastructure development:

The word “infrastructure” stands out in both word clouds for 2009-2013 and 2014. It has been one of government’s ongoing priorities with infrastructure projects tackling various issues such as schools, hospitals, roads, sanitation, electricity, water and internet connectivity. However, Africa Check has said that claims such as ones made about how many homes have been electrified over the past five years, cannot be verified.

President Zuma also informed the country that at least one school a week was opened in the Eastern Cape last year. According to an article published by Africa Check last year, this is false – the statement stemmed from a public relations campaign driven by the National Department of Basic Education.

Local Government - “Municipality”, “Local”, “District”:

As the word cloud for 2014 seems to suggest, this SONA focused a lot more on moving local government forward than it has in recent years, with the President praising municipalities that performed well, and providing intervention for those that did not.

Employment, Job Creation - “Work”:

Since 2009’s SONAs, President Zuma’s administration has consistently focused on employment and job creation to eradicate poverty. Whether this goal has come to fruition is another story. According to President Zuma, the government has created about four million job opportunities over the past five years. Africa Check warns that these “opportunities” could be any paid jobs created for any period of time – which does not mean that about four million people gained work. If a person moves from one short-term job to another, each period of employment is counted as a single work opportunity.

Youth employment was also cited as important with the President announcing that “Government will introduce further measures to speed up the employment of young people… we will expand the number of internship positions in the public sector, with every government department and public entity being required to take on interns for experiential training.”

International Relations – South-South trade, trade partners in the North, Sub-Saharan Africa:

The President’s SONA speech touched on the importance of having good relations with countries both in the North and South. However, particular emphasis was given to the importance of Sub-Saharan African countries as trade partners for South Africa. According to the President, “South Africa will continue to champion broader regional integration”.