While the South African Communist Party has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to relook at the statement he made is his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week – that it is the role of the private sector to drive job creation – political analyst Dr Oscar van Heerden says Ramaphosa is right on the money.

Some ANC MPs, the EFF and other parties and organisations spoke out against the president’s sentiment, but Van Heerden says that in the western world, the private sector is known as the primary creator of jobs.

On the other hand, he says, government has the responsibility to make sure that an enabling legislative environment and conditions conducive to doing business are in place.

Van Heerden says that while government, as a developmental state, has put in place many strategies and policies to create work and get the economy going – such as the Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy and the National Development Plan – these have not always worked out as planned.

In all honesty, Van Heerden says, the president has no choice but to work in partnership with the private sector.

“For the longest time, everyone, including the private sector, has tried to give the impression that government must create jobs.”

He says those people and parties who have a problem with the president’s statement, must provide realistic, workable alternatives.