WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-12-13 Time: 10:00:11 Posted By: Jan
By Deon de Lange
With potentially groundbreaking elections just months away, political parties are promising the moon and the stars to attract voters. However, despite its deep pockets, its dominance of the airwaves and an army of election foot soldiers, thanks in part to alliance partner Cosatu, the ANC is in for a tough fight.
To cope with the rise of the Congress of the People (COPE), and a rejuvenated Democratic Alliance (DA), the ANC will have to do better than its 1994 election message of “jobs for all”.
Add to this the real possibility of coalition governments at provincial level after the poll, and even smaller parties believe their views matter more than in previous elections.
As a result, the opposition parties will have to do more than simply harp on the ANC’s failures and provide testimony to voters as why they will succeed where the ruling party has not.
Unemployment and crime have consistently rated among the top issues of concern among voters over the past decade. So what are the parties saying?
The ANC is quick to point out that it has presided over the longest period of economic expansion in South African history and claims to have reduced (officially) unemployment from 31% in 2003 to 23% in 2007. Ironically, this was achieved through some of the very policies that the new ANC leadership and its leftist partners have lambasted.
Cosatu and the SA Communist Party (SACP) have long complained about the “market-friendly” approach of former President Thabo Mbeki and Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
This past weekend saw SACP leader Blade Nzimande – who sits on the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – dismissing the ANC’s own claim that “sound economic policies” over the past 14 years will provide some cover as the global economic crisis begins to bite here. According to the ANC’s draft manifesto, the state should hire more civil servants, and develop a “state-led industrial policy” to increase production and exports and to expand the (already) Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
Studies that show the EPWP has failed to transfer skills – one of its stated objectives.
It has only provided low-skilled, short-term employment, but the ANC will use this project to speed up rural development.
It plans to dramatically improve infrastructure and service delivery in rural areas to stimulate rural economies and reverse the current trend of urbanisation
This is an issue very close to the heart of ANC president Jacob Zuma, who himself hails form humble, rural beginnings. He aims to succeed where his predecessor failed. More than two years ago, Mbeki promised to spend a whopping R400 billion to fix the EPWP, but this has not happened.
The DA has proposed a bridge between education and employment by offering tax incentives to companies who hire school leavers or first-time job seekers. This is linked to the DA’s call for greater labour flexibility to boost employment uptake. It differs sharply with the ANC over the role of the state in the economy.
The UDM has also placed economic growth and job creation at the top of its agenda, followed by crime, education, corruption and nepotism and electoral reform, but details will only be available when the party launches its election manifesto in January next year.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa has called for a “Codesa on the economy” where a single, national economic policy can be agreed upon and be implemented by whichever party governs, suggesting this party lacks a comprehensive economic plan of its own.
The IFP has been vocal in its criticism of the ANC’s “interventionist, expenditure-driven economic model,” particularly now that the left has increased its influence within the ANC. The IFP is acutely sensitive to foreign investor sentiment and has warned that the SA Communist Party’s insistence on nationalising “strategic assets” will scare off foreign investors.
Instead, the IFP wants the economic policies that saw sustained growth over the past decade retained.
The ANC has yet to find a way around the “non-negotiable” issue of labour flexibility. Its alliance partners will fight tooth and nail to retain worker protection, despite Zuma’s brief foray into this debate nearly a year ago. He was quickly silenced after suggesting the current labour regime left many of the intended beneficiaries of labour protection “out in the cold”.
Uncertain employment is better than no employment at all, he seemed to be suggesting. But the ANC manifesto calls for “decent jobs,” promises state assistance to unionise farm workers, and pledges to fight labour casualisation.
In fact, the ANC has promised to push state intervention in the economy to new levels. State spending will drive economic growth. State assistance will (eventually) provide free education and healthcare for all. And government will continue to strictly regulate transformation, Affirmative Action, and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).
On Monday, ANC policy chief Jeff Radebe passionately defended the ANC’s much criticised BEE policies, saying this project had “served the nation very well” and was behind the growth of “the black middle class”.
However nearly every opposition party – and from time to time even the SA Communist Party – has complained about the way BEE has been implemented, with some suggesting BEE has deteriorated into pure cronyism benefiting only a few well-connected elites. But the ANC has undertaken to enhance and expand BEE going forward.
As in most democracies, political debate about the economy in South Africa often boils down to the role of the state. While the ANC plans greater state intervention, most opposition parties – with the notable exception of the PAC – would prefer an “enabling” state.
From this perspective, the state’s role in the economy should be limited to creating a regulatory environment conducive to economic growth. The state should not be responsible for creating jobs – and is usually very poor at it – this view suggests.
Most parties see the role of government as helping entrepreneurs set up shop, cutting red tape, loosening up labour law and generally setting the scene for business to create jobs and grow the economy.
The ANC also plans to increase social welfare spending. In 2008, the government spent about R105 billion on social welfare, including more than R80 billion on social grants alone. Comparatively, the country spent R30 billion on defence and intelligence, R42 billion on the police service, R75 billion on an ailing public healthcare system, R121 billion on education and only R10 billion on the justice system.
Welfare grants are a tricky political issue. More than 12 million South Africans benefit from these grants and even parties who are wary of the “dependence” this model may bring about are hesitant to alienate those voters who rely on grants to get by.
The DA, IFP, ID and UDM have all called for certain grants, such as the child support and disability grant, to be increased, while warning against the pitfalls of a “welfare state”.
And most parties – except the ANC – support a Basic Income Grant (BIG), which would lower the R5 billion annual administration costs associated with the current grant system, but which treasury has said is unaffordable.
Crime is the other issue that tops the agenda. Zuma has called for laws that “bite,” better pay for police officers and suggested a re-militarisation of police ranks. “A (police) superintendent sounds like a harmless hospital administrator,” he told supporters in Soweto. He has also raised eyebrows by questioning the right to silence afforded accused persons, suggesting suspects be “forced” to answer police questions without legal representation. Why the department of safety and security, he asks, when “law and order” is what it’s really about. The FF Plus has welcomed all the tough talk, but warned that police officers should not become a law unto themselves.
All political parties list crime-fighting as one of the country’s priorities – and slam the ANC for having failed in this regard. The ANC is also likely to take a hit for shutting down the Scorpions. Given the country’s battle with organised crime, it will be hard for the ANC to justify this move to those voters who do not see the unit as having been vindictive in probing and prosecuting high-ranking ANC members. The fact that most Travelgate MPs are from the ANC has also not gone unnoticed.
Opposition parties are going to exploit the Scorpions issue to the maximum. Already COPE has said that it would bring back the Scorpions if elected. Some ANC defectors to COPE cited this issue as one of the reasons they decided to leave the ANC. Almost without exception, opposition parties voted against the legislation to disband the Scorpions. The issue even drove a wedge between ANC MPs, with some quietly furious about the decision – but not furious enough to break ranks and face the wrath of party bosses.
Belated suggestions by those within the ANC who belong to the “sensible left” – as opposed to the “loony left” – that the plan was always about strengthening the state’s ability to combat organised crime, have met with ridicule.
A number of parties, including the ACDP and the FF Plus, would support the return of the death penalty.