Key commitments of the ANC manifesto

MBOMBELA – It is no secret that the ANC will be reverting to its 2009 manifesto priorities as when it embarks on the 2014 election manifesto as it was launched on Saturday at the Mbombela Stadium in front of a capacity audience of ANC supporters drawn from all the corners of the country.

They will be re-visiting the five priorities raised then which are creation of more jobs, decent work and sustainable livelihoods for inclusive growth; rural development, land reform and food security; education; health and; fighting crime and corruption.

On the economy and job creation, the ANC has committed to:

• Institutionalise long-term planning, integration and co-ordination capacity within the state to drive consolidated industrialisation and infrastructure development programmes for inclusive growth and job creation;

• Mobilise and leverage the active participation of all sectors in these bold initiatives. The private sector must actively contribute to inclusive growth, investment, social development and economic transformation;

• Promote local procurement to increase domestic production and the creation of decent jobs by directing the state tp progressively buy at least 75% of its goods and services from South African producers and support smallenterprises, co-operatives and broad-based black empowerment;

• Accelerate the roll-out of massive economic and social infrasgructure programmes, especially in energy, public transport, ICT and water supply to unlock economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life of the people;

• Address the needs of the youth for empowerment, education and job creation through a multi-pronged approach that creates job placements and internships and sets aside 60% of employment and empowerment in infrastructure and other projects for youth and promote youth employment and training incentive schemes;

• Promote investment and access to credit in the productive economy by the financial sector, including development finance institutions through bolder and far-reaching reforms;

• Consolidate the public works programme, creating six million work opportunities by 2019, many of which will be of a long-term duration;

• Investigate the modality for the introduction of national minimum wage as one of the key mechanisms to reduce income inequality;

• Take steps to strengthen existing laws to ensure faster change in employment equity in all workplaces by enforcing an accelerated implementation of employment equity targets and;

• Enforce measures to eliminate abusive work practises in a typical work and labour broking.

On rural development, land reform and food security, the following will apply;

• Implement rural development focussing on meeting basic needs, land reform and rural enterprise development, supported by localised markets, credit facilities and economic infrastructure;

• Increase investment in agricultural infrastructure in support of small-holder farmer development, prioritising former homeland communal areas;

• Continue to improve the tenure security and administration of people living in communal areas with emphasis on women’s tenure security;

• Strengthen support for co-operatives in marketing and supply activities to enable small scale producers to enter formal value chains and take advantage of economies of scale. This will include targeting public institutions as primary buyers of agricultural goods and support for small scale producers’ access to municipal markets;

• Expand the Food for All programme as part of the national integrated food and nutrition policy for procuring and distributing affordable essential food stuffs directly to poor communities;

• Accelerate the settlement of remaining land claims submitted before the cut-off date of 1998;

• Re-open the period for the lodgement of claims for restitution of land for a period of five years, commencing 2014 and;

• Codify the exceptions to the exceptions to the 1913 cut-off date for the descendants of the Khoi and San, and identify affected heritage sites and historical landmarks.

On human settlements and basic services, the following applies:

• Ensure all South Africans have access to adequate human settlements and quality living conditions through programmes that provide one million housing opportunities for qualifying households over the next five years, and providing basic services and infrastructure in all existing settlements.

On education and training the following applies:

• Improve and expand education and training by making Grade r compulsory, eradicating adult literacy and further improving the quality of basic education up to the senior grade. The FET college sector will be expanded, with greater support for the needs of students and compulsory community service for all graduates will be introduced.

On health, the following will apply;

• Enter a new phase in the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) through the creation of a publicly funded and publicly administered NHI Fund, strengthening and expanding the free primary health care programme, improving management of public hospitals, and reducing the costs of private health care;

• Intensify the campaign against HIV and AIDS to ensure at least 4.6 million people are enrolled in the anti-retroviral programme. We will also ensure chronic medication is available and delivered closer to where patients live, benefitting hundreds of thousands of South Africans.

Lastly, on fighting crime and corruption, the following will apply;

• Intensify the fight against corruption in both the public and private sectors through measures to restrict public servants from doing business and holding public officials individually liable for losses incurred as a result of corrupt actions. Action will be pursued against companies involved in bid rigging, price fixing and corruption in past and current infrastructure build programmes;

• Require any ANC member or ANC public representative found guilty by a court of law to step down from any leadership positions in the ANC, government and society. Where this has not happened, the ANC will take firm action in line with the provisions of the ANC constitution.