The African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa said the party would continue advocating for policies that would improve living conditions of South Africans.
Ramaphosa said as the ANC government it would not seek to disadvantage the majority of South Africans by implementing policies that would be seen as anti-poor people.
“We will not scrap Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) like other political parties want to.
“We would also not be scrapping the equality policies, because we want our people to get fair opportunities like other races,” he added.
Ramaphosa further said as the ANC government they would not be ashamed of changing the lives of the people and making sure that they advance and become better people.
The ANC president said this at the party’s Siyanqoba rally that was held in Soweto, Johannesburg at FNB Stadium.
Ramaphosa was saying this after both the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA said they were for the scrapping of BBBEE and equality policies.
ActionSA leader, Herman Mashaba, said BBBBEE and equality did not unite South Africans but were dividing them.
Mashaba said his organisation was unapologetic in its belief in the empowerment of black, coloured, and Indian South Africans, however, that needed to be a correlation between race and access to opportunity exists.
“We cannot claim to have realised the promise of a free and equal South Africa.
A keystone of an ActionSA government’s policy will be the introduction of the Inclusive Economic Empowerment Act, or IEE, which includes the establishment of an Opportunity Fund, as an alternative to failed current government policies such as the Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003, that have worsened inequality and left tens of millions trapped in poverty,” he said at the time.
Meanwhile, the DA believed that in order for the government to address the wide gap of inequalities that was faced by the country it needed to create jobs.
Earlier this year the party announced that it would scrap all “race-based” legislation such as black economic empowerment once it was in government.
It said it would also do away with the ANC’s cadre deployment practices adding that it would instead embrace a labour legislative framework which sought to pursue a true non-racialism through economic empowerment of all who live in South Africa.
The Siyanqoba rally was the ANC’s final push in an attempt to lure its supporters and voters to vote for the organisation.
While addressing party supporters, Ramaphosa asked ANC members to go out to remind voters that they must vote at the voting station they were registered at.
“We are asking you to help transport the elderly and the sick who have not made special votes to the voting stations.
“We are asking our party agents to remain tirelessly at their posts to ensure our election is free and fair.”
“To all the ANC comrades who are here today at this rally, I say that the battle is not yet over.
“While we salute you for turning out in your tens of thousands to fill this stadium, the real test is not today. The real test will be on Wednesday the 29th of May.
“On that day we are asking you, each and every one of you, to go out door to door and remind our supporters to go to the voting stations early.”
The Star