President Jacob Zuma on Thursday promised an implementation drive in his second state of the nation address, but opposition parties criticised him for providing little substance of his plans.

Zuma pledged to inject another R60-billion into the state's three-year infrastructure programme, bringing the overall price tag to R846-billion, and to tweak industrial policy to put more people in jobs.

"Our industrial policy action plan and our new focus on green jobs, will build stronger and more labour absorbing industries.

"Underpinning our strategy for economic recovery and growth, is our capital investment programme. Over the next three years we will spend R846-billion on public infrastructure."

The president acknowledged South Africa was not yet in the clear after its first recession in 17 years, and said the state would therefore not yet withdraw economic rescue measures implemented last year.

Opening of Parliament 2010

Invoking former president Nelson Mandela's vision of "a better future for all South Africa" on the 20th anniversary of his release from prison, Zuma said government must "work faster, harder and smarter".

"We will expect the executive and the public service to comply with this vision... The ministers who are responsible for a particular outcome will sign a detailed delivery agreement with the president."

Light on detail

But Zuma gave little detail of the goals he had set for key ministries, or the way in which industrial policy would change ? leaving that up to Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies to announce in coming weeks.

He said the state would press ahead with plans to introduce rigorous school inspections, strive to improve literacy and numeracy by 20 percent by 2014, and reintroduce health programmes in schools.

On crime, Zuma said the state would work harder to reduce serious and violent crime and ensure the justice system worked efficiently.

Housing and rural development were among the few areas where Zuma spelled out specific measures to hasten delivery. He announced plans to allocate 6000 hectares of "well-located public land" for low-income housing and to set up a guarantee fund worth one R1-billion to "incentivise the private banking and housing sector" to put roofs over more heads.

A 'new' Eskom

In the key area of energy, Zuma confirmed the government would set up an independent system operator "separate from Eskom", to look at the participation of independent power producers and seek to protect the poor from rising electricity prices.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said Zuma's address was insubstantial, and in the instances where he elaborated clear policy initiatives, these were pinched from her party.

"It was full of promises, rather vague and certainly insubstantial as to how he plans to do all the things he says he is going to do. There was a precious lack of detail. Again, assertions about we will do this and we're committed to that, but frankly, none of the how."

She said plans to improve literacy, measure outcomes and introduce wage subsidies for young people were "straight out of DA policy".

"Now the big challenge is to implement them and make them work."

Lacking in vision - Cope

Congress of the People parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala described the speech as "lacking in vision".

Economists thought it was ingenuous of Zuma to claim he had kept a promise made last May to create half-a-million jobs.

"We are pleased to announce that by the end of December, we had created more than 480 000 public works job opportunities, which is 97 percent of the target we had set," the president said, conceding these were not permanent jobs.

Nedbank economist Nicky Weimar said: "You can't call it job creation. It was an emergency measure."

Weimar and other economists warned how the state would have to fund initiatives Zuma announced, including extending the child support grant to children between 15 and 18, bringing another two million into the welfare net over the next three years.

Peter Attard Montalto, emerging markets economist at Nomura International, estimated there were now at least R50-billion of additional spending commitments in the coming year. He said the nation might expect tax hikes next week when Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan unveiled his first budget.

"Overall, I think tax hikes are now increasingly likely in the coming few years in order to be able to fund all this," he said.

Take a look at President Jacob Zuma's understanding of the state of South Africa. Read his State of the Nation speech.