Johnathan Paoli
President Cyril Ramaphosa has proclaimed putting the country to work, building infrastructure to ensure an inclusive economy, and tackling the high cost of living as some of the ruling party’s most determined commitments going forward.
The president was addressing the launch of the ANC’s Manifesto, which was held in the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban, following a week of campaigning in the province.
“By renewing the mandate of the ANC, we will build on the foundations of the 30 years of freedom, and continue the journey to the next 30 years to build a better life with opportunities for current and future generations alike,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa said that the party was implementing plans to put South Africa to work, through public employment programmes that create work opportunities in the public, small businesses and social sectors.
The president said that while job creation has shown positive growth since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate, especially among young people, remains extremely high.
The ANC government planned, over the next five year to create and sustain 2.5 million work opportunities delivering public goods and services in communities, including work done through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, funding to civil society through non-profit companies and organisations to provide work opportunities; as well as to expand and institutionalise the National Youth Service in partnership with the SANDF, and facilitating work opportunities for unemployed graduates, he said.
Ramaphosa said that the ANC wanted to increase support for small enterprises, entrepreneurs and cooperatives, especially in townships and villages, providing additional one million work opportunities, with specific set-asides for women, youth and persons with disabilities.
He said that the party would seek to engage the private sector on job creation, to contribute to the national efforts to create employment and get South Africans working, while continuing to promote and monitor employment equity to ensure that black people, women and persons with disabilities are represented in the public and private sectors, in the professions and artisanal sectors towards the growth of a vibrant, non-racial and non-sexist middle strata, critical to national development.
In terms of an inclusive economy, the president said that his party’s priority was to advance industrialisation as a driver of economic transformation, with active support for localisation, and high growth and labour intensive industries.
“Build our industries for an inclusive economy, by implementing a cross-cutting industrial strategy that drives growth and creates opportunities for youth and other unemployed persons,” the president said.
Ramaphosa outlined strategies to protect important existing industries, like steel, and advance the industries of the future, increase investment in a large-scale social and economic infrastructure plan, and fix the current constraint in energy, transport and logistics as important network industries and strategic national assets that are critical to industrialisation, growth and development.
He said that in order to deepen the transformation of the economy, the ANC will drive industrial growth, innovation and job creation and emphasized the importance of investment in energy infrastructure as necessary to end load shedding and ensure a secure supply of electricity.
The ANC government would continue cultivating partnerships to support the development and expansion of domestic industries with significant potential to create sustainable jobs; expand the black industrialist programme to support 2,000 companies; and ensure small businesses, cooperatives and enterprises owned by women, young people and persons with disability – especially in townships and villages – are included across all value chains through set-asides in the public and private sectors.
The president highlighted the intention to increase exports to global and continental markets leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), BRICS Plus and other bilateral relationships, and accelerate land reform and redistribution to reduce asset inequality and protect security of tenure, improve food security and agricultural production, promote rural and urban development and enable greater access to housing.
In addition, the ANC president said that his party would align monetary, fiscal and trade policy, along with transformation of the financial sector, to meet basic needs and support job creation and industrialisation
Ramaphosa said in tackling the high cost of living, the government would take steps to make everyday life more affordable for workers, unemployed persons, women-headed households and the middle class by addressing key needs like food, housing, health care, energy, transport and wages.
This is as household budgets are being stretched to the limit, with food prices continuing to climb from already intolerable levels. The prices of staples like maize meal and samp are almost 30% higher than a year ago.
“We will prioritise food security, including through VAT exemption on essential items, land reform, support for community and home gardens and by acting against price fixing,” the president said.
Ramaphosa said that the ANC would maintain and expand subsidised basic services like water, houses for the poor and indigent policies in municipalities; and strengthen health services and implement the National Health Insurance (NHI) to make quality health care affordable and available to all.
He said that the party would promote cheaper and subsidised solar power, introduce measures to regulate rental prices for student accommodation, ensure the National Minimum Wage increases in line with inflation and ensure full compliance; as well strengthening income support through existing social grants and use the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grants as a mechanism towards phasing in a basic income support grant.
“We will take steps to make everyday life more affordable for workers, unemployed and the middle class by addressing key needs like food, housing, healthcare, energy and wages,” Ramaphosa said.
However, with a population of 62 million people, the country currently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, standing at 32.1%, according to official government figures released last week.
Elections are scheduled to take place on 29 May this year with registration officially being closed.
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