IFP 2019 Election Manifesto

A GROWING ECONOMY

The development of an inclusive economy is an absolute priority. This is about human dignity. We need to get our nation working, to alleviate poverty, redress inequality, empower families, and fulfil the rightful aspirations of all our people and future generations.

The IFP Will champion:

• SMME development and local economic development.
• Inclusive economic growth with a sectorial focus.
• Encouraging foreign direct investment that is needed in specific sectors.
• Public private partnerships with a focus on State-Owned Enterprises and government services.

• SMME development and local economic development.
• Inclusive economic growth with a sectorial focus.
• Encouraging foreign direct investment that is needed in specific sectors.
• Public private partnerships with a focus on State-Owned Enterprises and government services.

SAFTEY, SECURITY AND JUSTICE – 
A CRIME – FREE SOCIETY

No society can achieve its full potential while its people live in fear. Development is only possible when individual rights and liberties are secured. Thus safety and security, and access to justice, must be guaranteed. South Africans must feel safe and be safe.

The IFP Will champion:

• Professionalising the SAPS and reprioritising its budget in areas such as public order and visible policing in order to improve accessibility to the Police.
• The decentralisation of policing powers from national to provincial and local authorities.
• The creation of specialised courts and specialised Police units to deal with corruption, sexual and gender-based violence, gangs and drugs
• Building partnerships with communities to fight crime.
• Increased minimum sentences with hard labour for prisoners.

• Bolstering the independence of the judiciary.
• Opening a national debate on the reinstatement of the death penalty as a means to deter violent crimes.
• The empowerment and deployment of the SANDF along our borders to curb human trafficking, cross border and illicit trade in weapons and drugs, and wildlife trafficking.
• The restoration and empowerment of traditional leadership in civil dispute settlements.

EDUCATION

Education is a necessary condition for sustainable, effective development. It is the most potent tool with which to bridge the inequalities in our society, place our people at the centre of our move into the future, and secure our rightful place in the global community.

The IFP Will champion:

• Free, quality Early Childhood Development, Primary, Secondary and Higher Education, and training for all our people.
• Prioritise Early Childhood Education under Basic Education.
• Re-evaluate and capacitate rural and township schools that were previously closed, due to non-viability or nonperformance.
• Free scholar transport and effective nutrition schemes in all public schools. Better pay and better working conditions for all teachers, including Grade R teachers.
• The development of high-tech classrooms-of-the-future where all learners are introduced to the skills needed for future work placement.

• Reopening teacher training colleges.
• Regular maintenance and additional school infrastructure for development -including sport, libraries and facilities for the arts.
• Encourage greater support for non-governmental organisations (NGO) and non-profit organisations (NPO) who deliver vital services on behalf of the State.
• Provide security at all schools.
• Provide adequate facilities and support for learners with special needs.
• Enforce discipline in schools.

ACCESS TO LAND

The resolution of the land issue carries with it the promise of healing the wounds of the past. Land has social, spiritual and economic value. It has the potential to be the foundation of the renewed economy our country so critically needs.

The IFP Will champion:

• The allocation of all unused land that is in the hands of the State, to assist the poor.
• Allocate specific support for modern agricultural and other developmental initiatives to redress imbalances of the past.
• Create a training infrastructure by introducing agricultural science at school level, and reopening agricultural training colleges.
• A high-rise housing approach where land is limited.

• Administration of communal land will remain in the hands of the people, under the custodianship of traditional leadership, with the provincial governments providing support to traditional leaders and emerging farmers and elevating them to a state of commercial farming.
• Finalise outstanding land claims and reopen the window for further applications and claims.
• Land expropriation with compensation.

A SOCIAL CARE PACKAGE – HEALTH AND WELFARE

Good health and well-being is integral to the overall socio-economic success of our nation. All South Africans deserve access to quality, innovative healthcare. We strongly support social grants, within the framework of self-help and self-reliance. Our primary goal is to empower people, while assisting the vulnerable in times of distress.

The IFP Will champion:

• Maintenance of existing health infrastucture.
• Reduce the high-cost of medicine for all South Africans.
• Establish provincial centres for medical innovation and research.
• Additional capacity for the training of more South African medical professionals.
• Improve service delivery and additional infrastructure in the National Health Laboratory Services.
• Increase accessibility for complimentary and traditional medicines.
• Increase support for mental health services.
• Improve working conditions for all health care workers.
• Implement Cancer policy in the workplace as we recognize and support the need for greater Cancer awareness and assistance through legislation and regulation for Cancer patients still active in the workplace.

• One social worker per ward in each municipality to address social ills.
• A special focus will be placed on ensuring that unemployed social work graduates are absorbed into the system and not only deployed to each ward in each municipality but also deployed to schools where school bullying is rife.
• Encourage greater support for non-governmental organisations (NGO) and non-profit organisations (NPO) who deliver vital services on behalf of the State.
• Prioritise the fight against gangsterism and drug abuse and increase the number of rehabilitation facilities for substance abuse.
• Support an increase to the Old Age Grant.

GENDER EQUALITY

Achieving true and meaningful gender equality is of utmost importance to the IFP. We know that women still bear the brunt of poverty, remaining on the fringes of the economy. Women still earn less than men for doing the exact same job. Women face war on our streets, at home and in the workplace. Ours is one of the most dangerous countries for women and children to live in. This must change

The IFP Will champion:

• The roll-out of free sanitary pads to vulnerable children in need in all provinces.
• Reduce the high-cost of medicine for all South Africans.
• Increase financial support to Chapter Nine Institutions such as the Commission for Gender Equality.
• Enact legislation to enforce equal pay for equal work.
• Prioritising of the salaries of Banyana Banyana players.

• Special courts to deal with Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
• Specially-trained SAPS officers to deal with GBV must be available at all police stations
• Gender equality module must be introduced as part of the school curriculum.

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

The development of an inclusive economy is an absolute priority. This is about human dignity. We need to get our nation working, to alleviate poverty, redress inequality, empower families, and fulfil the rightful aspirations of all our people and future generations.

The IFP Will champion:

• Establishing Housing Support Centres in communities.
• Build quality, dignified single and family units.
• Ensure that profits from housing projects are reinvested in the community.
• The involvement of young people and women in construction of housing development projects.
• Ensure contractors produce work of acceptable quality and use materials of approved standards.

• Punish contractors for poorly built houses.
• Root out corruption on the housing waiting list.
• Build integrated community housing developments especially in informal settlements.
• Improve access to low-cost subsidised housing for people who earn between R3 500 – R15 000 per month.

ENVIRONMENT

A healthy, sustainable environment is crucial to the achieving socio-economic development goals in a transitioning economy, both for current and future generations. South Africa needs authentic, courageous political leadership in the environmental arena to ensure that socioeconomic transformation is built on a sustainable base.

The IFP Will champion:

• Effective environmental governance and climate resilient development measures
• Support and enable legislation and regulation that provides for the sustainable use of natural resources through sector specific planning in the marine, terrestrial and aerial ecosystems
• Support greater protection of flora and fauna, as well as the increase and further allocation of marine and terrestrially protected areas, whilst taking into account the unique needs of subsistence communities within such protected areas
• Ban single use plastics

• Ensure that renewable energy sources are fully developed as a part of South Africa’s energy supply’ mix in order to sustainably contribute to the increasing energy requirements of our developing country.
• Criminalize the practice of ‘canned’ or ‘captive bred’ lion hunting in all manner and form.
• Create specialist wildlife courts staffed with skilled magistrates and prosecutors in order to more effectively adjudicate and prosecute wildlife crime such as trafficking in rhino horn.

Source: http://www.ifp.org.za/our-2019-manifesto/