What political parties are promising

Published Mar 12, 2014

Share

Jobs, economic growth, health, education and fighting corruption dominate the 2014 election manifestoes launched across the political landscape.

But what are the precise undertakings and what else is on offer in political parties’ respective bids to have South Africa’s record 25 390 150 registered voters make their crosses in the May 7 elections marking 20 years of democracy? Senior political correspondent Marianne Merten takes a look at the offerings by the usual election contenders and the debutantes.

 

ANC

President: Jacob Zuma

2009: 65.9 percent, or 11 650 748 votes

2004: 69.69 percent, or 10 880 915 votes

1999: 66.35 percent, or 10 601 330 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 264 National Assembly, 35 National Council of Provinces

2014 election promises: “Moving South Africa Forward”;

* 6 million job opportunities by 2019, with 80 percent of those earmarked for the youth;

* Banning public servants doing business with the state, and corrupt officials individually liable for losses arising out of their corrupt actions;

* ANC members or public representatives found guilty by a court of law must step down from any leadership positions, or the ANC takes “firm action”;

* Local procurement, with the state obtaining at least 75 percent of its goods and services from South African companies, and a central tender process to prevent corruption and inefficiencies;

* Infrastructure delivery centred on state-led investment and long-term planning, with a focus on industrialisation and beneficiation, leaving the state mining company to play a bigger role alongside state-owned entities;

* Rolling-out the National Health Insurance, aimed at providing universal access to quality health care, while reforming private health care to bring down costs;

* Doubling the number of people on antiretroviral treatment to 4.6 million by 2016, and measures to prevent teenage pregnancy;

* Expanding Further Education and Training (FET) – 1 million students enrolled in 2014 and an additional 500 000 in the next five years, while developing the new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, and establishing a dedicated health sciences university in Gauteng;

* Focus on investment in agriculture and the establishment of co-operatives to create sustainable rural livelihoods and economies; and,

* Accelerating land claims settlements, while ensuring tenure security for those living in communal areas, and support to emerging farmers.

DA

Leader: Helen Zille

2009: 16.66 percent, or 2 945 829 votes

2004: 13.7 percent, or 1 931 201 votes

1999: The DA did not exist yet, but its predecessor the Democratic Party polled 9.56 percent, or 1 527 337 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 67 National Assembly, 10 National Council of Provinces

2014 election promises: “Together for Change, Together for Jobs”

* 6 million real sustainable jobs over the next 10 years;

* Employment incentives: from bolstering the youth wage subsidy to benefit 423 000 young people within three years, to refunding employers for apprenticeships, while government establishes 1 million internships;

* Fight corruption and fire corrupt officials to save R30 billion per year and banning ministers and their relatives from doing business with the state;

* Ban anyone convicted of corruption, fraud, theft or violent crime from holding public office, and lifestyle audits so politicians account for their wealth;

* Explore the privatisation of state-owned entities, while investing at least 10 percent of the gross domestic product in infrastructure development;

* Cut red tape to easy doing business, with one-stop shops across the country to empower entrepreneurs;

* Opportunity vouchers for graduates wanting to set up businesses, while increasing student financial aid to R16m to encourage quality education;

* More police on the streets: 100 000 to bring the police force numbers to 250 000, and boosting detectives to number 8 500;

* Training of 15 000 teachers a year, linked to performance incentives, and better school management;

* Rolling out “mass participation, opportunity and development centres” to offer sports and cultural facilities after school hours;

* Affordable quality access to health care;

* Commitment to willing seller, willing buyer approach to land reform, while training new land owners to ensure sustainability; and,

* Reliable, efficient internet for all South Africans.

COPE

President: Mosiuoa Lekota

2009: 7.42 percent, or 1 311 027 votes

2004: did not contest, was formed in 2008

Current parliamentary seats: 30 National Assembly, 7 National Council of Provinces

2014 election promises: “South Africa Deserves a Better Government!”

* Direct presidential election, direct election of premiers by their province’s residents and direct elections of mayors by city’s residents;

* Eradicate corruption, mismanagement and wasteful spending to ensure the fiscus’ financial health, with a special focus on directing more funding to local government to boost capacity and skills;

* Reduce number of ministries to redirect money into the national coffers to benefit ordinary South Africans;

* A professional, effective civil service where people are hired for skills irrespective of party political affiliation;

* Fully implement the National Development Plan (NDP), the country’s vision to reduce poverty and inequality by 2030;

* Universal, affordable health care with an automated queuing system;

* Increase the pass mark in schools and exclude unions from school management of teachers, who must focus on teaching;

* Identify land for settlement and provide serviced sites to empower people to better housing, while making available farming opportunities;

* Review the Protection of State Information Bill so it does not muzzle the media or hide corrupt activities;

* Professionalise police and state intelligence services to prevent power abuse and standardise high levels of police training; and,

* Introduce mandatory minimum legislation for drug trafficking and poaching, including the killing of endangered wildlife species.

AgangSA

Leader: Dr Mamphela Ramphele

2009: AgangSA did not exist yet

2014 elections promises: “We Can Build a Winning South Africa, Together”

* Empowerment: a culture of “servant leadership” in government linked to dignified human settlements, with the state transferring half of the land for residential development, accessible and affordable health care and substantial land reform to return land for farming, supported by industrial measures;

* Education: free higher education and bursaries for students with a minimum 70 percent pass mark, while schools return to a 50 percent pass mark and see the eradication of mud schools, while more teachers will be trained and paid according to skills;

* Entrepreneurship: from cutting red tape to changing the tax system to support entrepreneurs;

* Employment: introducing service provisions for mandatory use of local unemployed labour, the prioritisation of labour-intensive job creation, while focusing on education and training; and,

* Effective government: reforming the public sector to root out corruption with a 15 years’ jail term for any civil servant found guilty of corruption with a life ban from ever working for government again, as public servants and their families are also banned from doing business with the state.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)

Commander-in-Chief: Julius Malema

2014 election promises: “Now is the Time for Economic Freedom!”

* An across-the-board minimum wage of R4 500 per month for all full-time workers, with separate minimum monthly wages for mine workers of R12 500, R5 000 for cashiers and R7 500 for private security guards, and banning labour brokers;

* At least 40 percent of government workers must be youths aged 18 to 35 – and 35 percent in the private sector;

* The state to take over all land to redistribute without compensation, alongside a ban on foreign land ownership;

* Nationalisation of mines, banks and other strategic sectors of the economy without compensation;

* Building state capacity to lead to the abolition of tenders and an open, accountable, corrupt-free government;

* Electricity subsidies to bring down costs by half by 2019 and 200 units of free basic electricity for every home;

* Free education including at tertiary institutions;

* Scholarships for 15 000 students, of which at least 5 000 must study medicine;

* Quality health underscored by the training of community health- care professionals, a state pharmaceutical company, widescale provision of generic medicines and a state-owned manufacturer of health-care equipment;

* Massive up-scaling of food production to meet domestic demand;

* Laws to reduce bond repayments to 10 years, housing subsidies for middle-income earners and quality state-provided housing and decent toilets for all; and,

* Parliament to relocate to Pretoria.

IFP

President: Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi

2009: 4.55 percent, or 804 260 votes

2004: 6.97 percent, or 1 088 664 votes

1999: 8.58 percent, or 1 371 477 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 18 National Assembly, 1 National Council of Provinces

2014 election promises: “The Power is Yours!”

* Properly planned infrastructure delivery and maintenance and free basic services to all to prevent protests;

* Take politics out of education, get parents involved and re-focus the learning curriculum on quality, while more bursaries for school leavers must be made available;

* Revise labour laws to balance job creation and protection and remove union politics from the economy;

* Special economic zones, particularly in rural areas… and to focus on small businesses;

* Establishing a special corruption court to re-investigate all corruption cases and fire all law enforcement officers and civil servants found guilty of stealing from the state;

* Stop cadre deployment to professionalise the civil service, where performance must be rewarded;

* Train more doctors and nurses – and pay them accordingly – but prosecute and punish dishonesty;

* Build high-density housing for city dwellers close to work and encourage them to grow roof-top gardens;

* Redistribute state land and support communities to farm, including limiting taxes which could minimise profitability;

* Extend powers of the Ingonyama Trust Act (it holds in trust for traditional communities about 3 million hectares in KwaZulu-Natal) to all provinces in consultation with traditional leaders; and,

* Decentralise policing, depoliticise the appointment of the SAPS national commissioner and introduce mandatory time frames by which court cases must be wrapped up.

United Democratic Movement (UDM)

President: Bantu Holomisa

2009: 0.85 percent, or 149 680 votes

2004: 2.28 percent, or 355 717 votes

1999: 3.42 percent, or 546 790 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 4 National Assembly

2014 election promises: “Corruption Destroys the Gains of our Freedom”

* Electoral reform to directly elect the country’s president and to introduce constituencies;

* A culture of good governance to root out political interference in state administration, and establishing a special corruption court;

* Cut down the number of ministries, review the public sector wage and stop the overuse of consultants;

* An economic indaba to address mining – including rights allocations to political elites and the socio-economic conditions for workers – and land ownership;

* A “map of infrastructure development” based on close co-operation between government and communities to ensure all South Africans have access to passable roads, electricity, water irrigation and a rail network;

* Small business development, while removing obstacles to entrepreneurism and cutting the red tape;

* Tax incentives for job creation, particularly in labour-intensive industries, while focusing on opportunities for unemployed graduates;

* Free school eduction to Grade 12 in schools where discipline and proper infrastructure are the norm, while depoliticising the management of schools by unions;

* Quality health care with well-trained and well-remunerated doctors and nurses and a focus on health education, nutrition and family planning;

* Speed up land reform and use agriculture to boost economic growth, with infrastructure development providing access to markets and job creation, and one-stop agricultural services centres; and,

* Restore civil order, that police adhere to the constitution as communities, including neighbourhood watches, are participating in the fight against crime.

Freedom Front Plus

Leader: Dr Pieter Mulder

2009: 0.83 percent, or 146 796 votes

2004: 0.89 percent, or 139 465 votes

1999: 0.80 percent, or 127 217 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 4 National Assembly

2014 election promises: “It Is Time”

* Afrikaners and other minorities to be recognised and have their voices heard in a united and diverse South Africa;

* Federalism, locality and self-determination as essential building blocks of a revised constitutional dispensation, to give more autonomy to provinces and local government, where municipalities should be smaller;

* Establishing Pixley ka Seme, ZF Mgcawu (Upper Karoo) and Namakwa as a joint quota-free zone as part of measures to defeat the current culture of corruption, cadre deployment and “blind racial targets”;

* Language rights, recognition and development of all South African indigenous languages to fight off “the creeping language imperialism of Anglophiles”;

* Abolish e-tolls;

* Quality education where “trade unions with destructive traditions” are under control in a culture of hard work, honesty and rising standards from the remotest school to the Presidency;

* Job creation with a specific focus on youth, including a youth wage subsidy, while amending labour legislation, restricting or even prohibiting strikes and abolishing affirmative action; and,

* Unused state land to be redistributed immediately.

African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)

President: Reverend Kenneth Meshoe

2009: 0.81 percent, or 142 658 votes

2004: 1.6 percent, or 250 272 votes

1999: 1.43 percent, or 228 975 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 3 National Assembly

2014 election promises: “Your Hope for a Great Future”

* Boost employment to achieve economic growth of 7 percent;

* Zero tolerance to crime with more police stations, heavier sentences and extending the prison labour programme for inmates;

* Amend laws and policies undermine family values, including those allowing access to contraceptives, inappropriate sex education, attempts to ban “moderate parental chastisement”, pornography, gambling, same sex marriages and abortion on demand;

* Stop the Protection of State Information law;

* Skilling teachers, who in turn will be better paid, and re-introducing school inspectors to ensure quality at schools with well-run governing boards and bursaries to tertiary students who achieve an 80 percent matric pass; and,

* Making HIV/Aids a notifiable disease, while rolling out antiretroviral treatment, and focusing on the elimination of tuberculosis as the National Health Insurance is phased in for universal, affordable health care.

United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP)

President: Isaac Mfundisi

2009: 0.37 percent, or 66 086 votes

2004: 0.75 percent, or 117 792 votes

1999: 0.78 percent, or 125 280 votes

Current Parliamentary seats: 2 National Assembly

2014 election promises: “Stand Up and Speak Out to Make A Change”

* 4 million jobs in five years in a free-market economy where small businesses are supported through government-funded infrastructure;

* Developing agriculture to become the second industry after mining to drive economic growth;

* Abolish e-tolls and toll gates, while prioritising bus subsidies for indigent people in rural and farming areas;

* Compulsory education to Grade 12 at safe schools where teachers receive market-related salaries;

* Re-opening of all closed down clinics to run 24 hours a day by properly qualified and committed health workers; and,

* Construction of 1.5 million houses, while conversion of hostels to homes is accelerated

African People’s Convention (APC)

President: Themba Godi

2009: 0.20 percent, or 35 867 votes

2004: 0.25 percent, or 39 116 votes

1999: the party did not exist yet

Current parliamentary seats: 1 National Assembly

2014 election promises: “A Future for Everyone; Let Your Vote Work for You”

* An egalitarian society, characterised by social solidarity and economic justice, to move towards an Africanist socialist democracy;

* Job creation and economic growth to transform the economy to serve the people with a commitment to distribute the country’s wealth “as equitably as possible”;

* State intervention in the economy through regulations, ownership and shareholding in key areas like mining, banking, communications, with a special role for workers in terms of shares, management positions and production;

* A capable state – or “agile government” to respond to citizens – with zero-tolerance for corruption and maladministration so the welfare and well-being of people, particularly in health and education, are not undermined; and,

* Rural development and agrarian reforms key to job creation, while mining companies must fully implement their commitments to communities living around areas of production.

Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)

President: Alton Mpheti

2009: 0.27 percent, or 48 530 votes

2004: 0.73 percent, or 113 512 votes

1999: 0.71 percent, or 113 125 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 1 National Assembly

2014 election promises:

“Land Redistribution for Socio-economic Emancipation”

* Land returns into state custody, but must be made available at no cost to the poor, while pursuing equitable land redistribution by, among other, laws requiring farmers to train workers to become equal partners in agricultural production;

* Implement the “one farmer, one farm” resolution, and hold a referendum to amend the constitution’s property clause;

* State to drive mineral beneficiation, with incentives for foreign investors to support small businesses particularly in agro- processing;

* Mineworkers to have a stake in production, profit and ownership in mines, while hostels must be eradicated;

* Education and training in schools safe from violence, where each pupil must participate in at least one sport and one cultural activity per week, while recruiting more well-trained teachers committed to long-term service and looking to raise academics’ retirement age to 75;

* Train more doctors, nurses and pharmacists to ensure a quality, accessible and affordable health care in dignified facilities;

* Longer jail terms for those found guilty of corruption – and special corruption courts – while tightening checks and balances at all levels of government to stop corruption; and,

* Empower the taxi industry to provide efficient public transport.

Minority Front (MF)

President: Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi

2009: 0.25 percent, or 43 474 votes

2004: 0.35 percent, or 55 267 votes

1999: 0.30 percent, or 48 277 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 1 National Assembly

2014 election promises: “One Vision, One Future”

* Long-term vision to establish a ministry for minorities and a commission for minorities;

* Affirmative action to include minorities as sound economic and political justice ensure equal opportunities for all; and,

* Quiet diplomacy to skilfully negotiate for the people the party serves.

Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo)

President: Jake Koti Dikobo

2009: 0.22 percent, or 38 245 votes

2004: 0.25 percent, or 39 116 votes

1999: 0.17 percent, or 25 257 votes

Current parliamentary seats: 1 National Assembly

2014 election promises: “Fulfilling the Promise of the Liberation Struggle”

* Direct election of the country’s president and mayors so citizens are empowered and can hold them accountable;

* Abolishing provincial governments to be replaced with governors accountable to the national government;

* Regulating electoral campaign and party funding so no one has a disproportionate influence;

* Abolishing private gun ownership, but allowing special exemption for sport shooting codes, as part of the fight against crime, alongside better police training, more municipal peace officers and co-operation with communities;

* A “restorative merit system” for civil service appointments, while protecting the integrity of tender processes;

* Service delivery, starting with fixing education – free and compulsory schooling to Grade 12, with mother tongue foundation years learning – and skilling workers for modern jobs;

* Infrastructure investment by the state, with communities involved in identifying their needs;

* State ownership of land, mineral resources, through expropriation and/or 100 to 150-year leases; and,

* A caring society with universal functioning health care, social security, a youth ministry and the eradication of patriarchy.

(Sources: Independent Electoral Commission, party political 2014 manifestos)

Note: The percentage support is calculated on votes received out of total votes cast, which increased by some 2 million to 23.18 million registered voters in 2009, up from 20.67 million in 2004 and 18.17 million registered voters in 1999.

Political Bureau

Related Topics: