IFP manifesto — free primary education and a debate on the death penalty

All about…

The IFP manifesto is well crafted for its target support base. It is the most rural-focused of the manifestos we have seen so far; the party would give more power to traditional leaders if it were to come to power. It uses the late leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s popularity as its leitmotif, with the hashtag #DoItForShenge.

Basic income, grants and social policy

• An unemployed graduate grant of R3,000;
• Review grants and increase if necessary – link all grants to opportunities and training;
• One community, one social worker;
• Legalise baby savers (baby boxes at NGOs for abandoned babies).

Crime and corruption

• More powers to traditional courts;
• Open a national debate on reinstating the death penalty;
• Prompt dismissal and prosecution of corrupt officials, irrespective of rank or political affiliation;
• Use the force of the South African National Defence Force in areas where gangsterism is rife;
• Support and implement the principles of restorative justice.

Economy

• Curb data costs by 50% through state intervention;
• Grow the cannabis and hemp sectors;
• Revitalise Ithala Bank (Perennially corrupt – Editor).

Education

• Raise the pass mark to 50%;
• Redirect Seta billions to give internships to unemployed graduates in municipal, provincial and national government departments;
• Free primary education and a focus on fixing NSFAS, the financial aid scheme for disadvantaged students;
• Focus on early childhood education as a priority;
• Teacher accommodation for rural-based teachers.

Food

• A South African Social Security Agency food relief voucher system.

Global policy

• It’s a nationally focused manifesto.

Governance

• Elevate the role of traditional leaders in governance.

Health

• Devolve autonomy from national to provincial and local levels;
• One regional hospital in each of 52 health districts; expand clinic network;
• Reduce the high cost of medicine.

Jobs

• A strict 80:20 South Africans to foreigners rule across all businesses;
• Job reservation for entry-level and low-skill sectors.

Land and housing

• Increase the qualifying income for fully subsidised housing from R3,500 to R5,500 monthly;
• Introduce a housing benefit scheme for those who earn above the subsidy threshold;
• Subsidise first-time homeowners;
• Integrate hostels into communities;
• A full-scale land audit (This has been done many times – Editor);
• State support for new farmers and viable cooperatives;
• Make sure communal land stays in the hands of traditional leaders;
• Provincial governments must support this land to the standard of commercial farms;
• Supports land expropriation with reasonable compensation;
• Reactivate local agricultural support centres – promote public-private partnerships in agricultural development.

Migration

• Deploy the SANDF to ports of entry and borders to fortify them;
• Invest in a National Immigration Inspectorate;
• An all-of-government plan to deport illegal migrants;
• A six-month permit review process for all foreigners;
• Ensure critical skills visas are issued in four weeks;
• Invoice countries whose citizens are in South Africa illegally and who use healthcare services.

National Health Insurance (NHI)

• Supports universal health coverage;
• Redress the funding model of the NHI Bill, while defining the roles of public and private healthcare services more clearly.

Power cuts

• Manage Eskom as a public-private partnership.;
• Cut unnecessary fuel levies;
• Maintain coal as a primary energy source while promoting renewables;
• Support the green hydrogen economy.

Traditional leaders

• Protect and sustain traditional leadership through respect, compensation and capacitation;
• Amend chapters 7 and 12 of the Constitution to improve traditional leaders’ roles, powers and functions;
• Extend the Ingonyama Trust land model to other provinces. Before 1994, the apartheid government transferred traditional leadership land in KwaZulu-Natal to the Ingonyama Trust. (It’s not the most democratic system, is open to abuse and places women landholders at a disadvantage – Editor).

Reality check

• It’s an expensive manifesto that would substantially increase the social wage, with hikes in grants and housing subsidies, yet it doesn’t grapple with the necessary trade-offs;
• The powers it envisages investing in traditional leaders raise questions of how much South Africa can afford to spend here;
• The migration policy is Trumpian;
• In Johannesburg, a portfolio run by the IFP in an administration where it was part of a governing coalition was notoriously corrupt.

What’s good

The IFP manifesto is well written and based on the principle of trust. For example, each section starts with a line like “Trust us to get you working” or “Trust us for safe and dignified homes”. DM

Read more in Daily Maverick: 2024 elections

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.