All about…

• The manifesto is a mix of radical socialist as well as conservative policies in the power it would distribute to traditional leaders in control of land, local government and in the health sphere;
• It includes a commitment to fossil fuel-based energy and state control of key sectors of the economy;
• It proposes reversing reforms undertaken by the ANC of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Basic income 

• Introduce a basic income grant above the poverty datum line of R1,558 for those unable to work;
• A minimum wage above R4,500;
• Increase the child support grant to R760 a month;
• Increase the old age pension to R4,500 a month for those older than 75 years, and R2,180 for those aged 60 to 75.

Crime fighting and defence

• Hire more cops;
• Hold a referendum on the death penalty;
• Resource forensics laboratories.;
• Accelerate prosecution of apartheid’s outstanding Truth and Reconciliation Commission cases. (But not of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture cases – Ed);
• Give lots of moola to military veterans.

Economy

• Nationalise the SA Reserve Bank;
• Establish a network of state-owned banks, and nationalise all large banks and insurance companies;
• Reorient away from traditional industry and mining;
• Start a sovereign wealth fund;
• Eliminate the need for foreign direct investment in the resources sector;
• Reverse the privatisation of the Durban container terminal; bring Richards Bay coal terminal under 100% Transnet state ownership.

Education

• Fee-free education, from preschool to postgrad;
• School feeding schemes at all schools and early learning centres with three meals a day.

Employment

• Permanent jobs for all capable and willing workers at a minimum wage of R4,500 a month, with the state offering employment to anybody able to work, plus skills and training.

Energy

• Reintroduce the cap on privately produced energy. (The one that was removed and led to fewer blackouts – Ed);
• Repeal the Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme and the unbundling of Eskom;
• Reverse and rescind the transition from coal to benefit Eskom initiatives instead.

Global policy

• Withdraw from the International Criminal Court;
• Support an Africa-first global policy;
• Work more with BRICS countries; review South Africa’s “inequitable finance relationships with the West”;
• Love Russia; support Cuba and Palestine.

Governance

• Scrap the “colonial” and “liberal” Constitution, replace with parliamentary sovereignty;
• Establish a “lower house of elected representatives, and an upper house of indigenous kings and queens as well as other traditional leaders”;
• Other plans: reduce provinces from nine to four; introduce a new administrative arm of local government to give greater power to traditional leaders.

Health

• Implement the National Health Insurance scheme;
• Support medical pluralism so that people can access alternative and traditional healthcare in public and private facilities.

Jacob Zuma special clause

• Ensure that the Prudential Authority oversees banks to ensure they do not arbitrarily close accounts of citizens critical of the state. (Zuma had his bank accounts shut, and he fought a stand-up battle for the Guptas when banks closed their accounts – Ed).

Land

• Expropriate all land without compensation and transfer ownership to the people, under state and traditional leadership custodianship.

Language

• Indigenous languages to be made lingua franca of schools, higher education, legal proceedings and all official state communication.

Migration

• Strengthen border control;
• Revamp the Department of Home Affairs.

Nationalisation, forced listings, prescribed assets

• Nationalise all water, spectrum and renewable energy resources; nationalise Sasol;
• Nationalise strategic mining companies;
• Re-nationalise Arcelor-Mittal;
• Force relisting of major South African companies on the JSE;
• Review Regulation 28 of the Pensions Fund Act so that savings are used to finance national development.

Public transport

• Subsidise taxis; integrate public transport. (A hardy annual of the Zuma administration. Never achieved – Ed);
• Start a state-owned taxi and bus manufacturing company;
• Recapitalise the Bus Rapid Transit system for cities and townships;
• Recapitalise public rail agency Prasa. (The one decimated during the State Capture years by allies of Zuma – Ed).

Race relations

• “South African society is dominated culturally, artistically, spiritually and economically by a minority group with an alien culture”;
• “We see continued subservience to white South Africans, with the state failing to develop the human capital and R&D capability of its population.” (Note that its definition of “population” excludes whites and possibly all minority groups – Ed).

Reparations

• Explore reparations payment for the victims of colonialism and apartheid including Khoisan people.

Reality check

• (We’re f***ed if this gets implemented. There’s no polite way to say this – Ed).

What’s good?

• We always try to find the positives in all manifestos. This one, however, must be viewed through the lens of the almost two terms served by Zuma as president. They were a disaster often referred to as South Africa’s lost decade;
• Also, the Zondo Commission found that Zuma was the lynchpin of State Capture. DM

Read more in Daily Maverick: 2024 elections

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.