| ELECTION MANIFESTO | Back to Index |
| How the IFP will make South Africa governable? |
IFP PRESIDENT
We live in a potentially great country. Not only is it beautiful, exciting and dynamic, but it's a land in which we need to come together to confront the numerous challenges facing us as we build a better country for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.
But South Africa is far from perfect. It is also deeply troubled. By unemployment. By crime. By poverty. By disease. By corruption. By a breakdown in the social fabric. By a lack of discipline. By a lack of respect for others. By indolence. In key respects, South Africa is not being governed properly and is becoming, and has at times already become, ungovernable.
While we appreciate that many current problems originated in and may legitimately be blamed on the past, there comes a time when we have to stop justifying present failure to deliver on problems inherited from the past.
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| In making South Africa governable, we will: |
- prioritise the interests of the unemployed, especially in tackling issues inhibiting job creation;
- stimulate entrepreneurship and small business creation as the engines of job creation;
- deregulate the labour market to make it easier for people to employ others and to be employed;
- initiate labour intensive public works programmes;
- privatise government assets and use the proceeds in part to create new jobs;
- encourage more foreign investment; and
- require all legislation to be accompanied by an independently conducted Employment Impact Study indicating whether the proposed law benefits employment creation.
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| In making South Africa governable, we will: |
- throw every available resource into the fight against crime;
- improve the pay, conditions of service and training of the SAPS, while reducing absenteeism and internal inefficiencies;
- prioritise the rights of victims of crime over those of criminals;
- get very tough on criminals, including the imposition of mandatory sentencing for certain crimes against children, women and the police;
- substantially strengthen the ability and capacity of provincial and local government to direct policing in the provinces;
- depoliticise policing; and
- hold a referendum on the death penalty.
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| In making South Africa governable, we will: |
- restructure the public service in order to increase expenditure on actual service delivery;
- outsource many present functions of the public service where this results in greater efficiency without the loss of jobs;
- ruthlessly target those abusing their public positions to enrich themselves;
- require performance auditing of all government activities;
- place all senior public servants on performance contracts;
- empower governments at the local and provincial spheres to better deliver to the people, reducing the scope, size and resources of the central government;
- oblige all levels of government to establish proper revenue collecting mechanisms for all services provided;
- speed up the housing programme, making affordable housing available to more people than at present; and
- prioritise poverty alleviation programmes in both urban and rural areas.
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Education is in crisis, but throwing money at
it is not the key to resolving the problem. Indeed, as results often prove, the most
important element in generating good results is often the attitude of educators and
learners rather than mere resource allocation
| In making South Africa governable, we will: |
- reintroduce discipline into education, putting an end to anarchy whenever it rears its ugly head;
- oblige educators to obey a strict code of conduct;
- speed up the upgrading of teacher qualifications;
- redirect the curricula towards that which is economically useful;
- strengthen community and parent involvement in school governance; and
- incentivise the management of education to make it more results oriented.
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In many ways, South Africa is on a slippery moral slope. We are increasingly being portrayed as a country characterised by lax values, self-indulgence, public and private sector corruption, a culture of entitlement, cronyism and nepotism, none of which augurs well for the future.
| In making South Africa governable, we will: |
- engage with religious and cultural organisations to promote the moral regeneration of society, especially among the young and among the public and private sectors;
- introduce civic studies and ubuntu into our school curricula;
- demand the highest standards of honesty and diligence in the public sector and protect whistle blowers;
- encourage self-discipline, self-help and self-reliance; and
- introduce measures to protect women and children against abuse.
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Despite our many difficulties, we, together with all other South Africans of goodwill, still have hope and pride in what has been accomplished. But while we all acknowledge this, by the same token we must recognise that there is still so much to be done.
First and foremost, what South Africa needs is a plan to bridge the wide gap that exists between hope and reality. Hope doesn't provide jobs. Hope doesn't feed a hungry family. Hope doesn't protect one against crime.
What was once a paradise for a few must now
become a paradise for all those who are willing to contribute towards building the
country. We want an economically prosperous and socially stable society, in which present
islands of progress, affluence and development are expanded to cover the entire sea of
basic unfulfilled needs and wants still submerging the majority of our population.
But this can't be achieved without a plan of action, a plan moreover, which will have to
reflect hard measures and perhaps unpopular decisions if it is to successfully redress the
problems we face. The next government of South Africa must focus less on theory and
abstract laws and more on implementation and delivery.
When elected the majority party in Parliament, we will concentrate on three key aspects of
delivery - government efficiency, economic productivity and stability at the community
level. These are the three cornerstones of our plan of action. Attending to these will lay
the foundations of a great South Africa in the new millennium.
But only tough and committed leadership in government can implement the plan, and only the
IFP under its president, is tough enough and committed enough to do what has to be done.
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