South Africa's president Jacob Zuma said yesterday that economic growth will be the focus of his second term in office, speaking at his inauguration in the country's capital, Pretoria.

The national development plan, a blueprint for growth drawn up in his first term, would be the major engine of "radical" socio-economic change, said Zuma, 72.

"It's time for us to do what we have always said we would. Do not be alarmed when we take decisions that are hard and unusual, we will be doing it for your good," he told a huge crowd of supporters.