Mr. Belenkosni Hlavisa, Chairman of IFP. (Photo credit: Gallo Images/Darren Stewart)
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) made a big show of strength in Durban on Sunday, filling the city's Moses Mabhida Stadium to launch its manifesto for the May 29 national and local elections.
The stadium used by the Economic Freedom Fighters and the ANC to present their manifesto was packed with parties by midday, with supporters moving from the stands onto the field to avoid the sun as the afternoon wore on.
President Belenkosni Hlavisa has called on South Africans to vote in favor of changes to future polls to give South Africa back control of the KwaZulu-Natal province it lost to the ANC in 2004.
Hlavisa said South Africa is “on the brink of collapse, not because of a lack of people, but because South Africa is subject to poor governance, weak leadership and corruption.”
“A loud voice will be heard across South Africa in 2024,” Hlavisa said. “A voice calling for change”
Mr Hlavisa said the IFP was a “government in waiting” and would once again govern in the interests of South Africans if given the opportunity.
“IFP is not foreign to government. We know from experience that we can better manage governance, so we strive to play that role,” Hlavisa said.
“KwaZulu-Natal has developed and prospered under the IFP-led government. Our track record of service delivery and integrity ensures that you will continue to trust us in 2024.” He said.
Mr Hlabisa was elected IFP president in 2019, and his founding chairman, the late Mangosuthu Buthelezi, will face the election as the face of the party's #doitforShenge campaign.
Mr Buthelezi's portrait will also appear on the ballot paper, with the party capitalizing on the community-wide wave of goodwill generated by Mr Buthelezi's death last year and his legacy, and linking up with the party's current leadership and his supporters. We want to prevent friction between them. An important election.
His son Prince Zuzifa Buthelezi addressed the rally ahead of Hlabisa, expressing his family's support for the party his father founded in 1975 and led for more than 40 years.
The IFP wants to take back the province and serve as a national coalition government under South Africa's multiparty charter, and on Sunday laid out a 13-point action plan to implement if the province and its allies manage to eliminate it. Announced. ANC.
These include ending load shedding through a mixed and diversified energy system and ending illegal immigration while ensuring South Africans have access to jobs and small businesses.
The party worked to improve health care and strengthen welfare systems at the local and state levels, as well as improve food assistance for poor households.
The party will ensure data costs are halved to tackle “anti-poverty” pricing, while “prioritizing poor communities in urban and rural areas” by working with and supporting traditional leaders. intend.
The party has pledged to roll out free basic education, “reform” the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), introduce a R3,000 postgraduate support grant for a limited period, and the Education and Training Authority (SETA). has promised to direct funds from Pay for his 12-month internship in a government agency or local government.
On job creation, Hlabisa said the IFP government would impose an 80/20 employment target across all industries to ensure jobs for local people, while entry-level and low-skill sectors should be reserved for South Africans. Ta.
Similarly, only South Africans will be allowed access to the small business and spaza shop market. On the other hand, small businesses should be exempt from bureaucracy and other barriers to entry.
IFP will support the expansion of the industrial hemp and hemp industry as a catalyst for local economic development and job creation. We also provide funding to local businesses.
The party will also enforce the Competition Commission's findings on South Africa's top prices, ensuring prices are reduced by 50%, as well as offering R3,000 fixed-term jobs to “help graduates find meaningful employment”. There are plans to introduce unemployment subsidies.
On crime, the IFP would improve police funding, training, and numbers, while creating a culture that “strengthens accountability, professionalism, ethical behavior, and public trust and confidence in law enforcement.”
The government's political parties will implement a zero-tolerance policy against police corruption and swiftly prosecute offending members, regardless of their seniority or rank.
The South African National Defense Force (SANDF) will be better-skilled and better-funded by international standards at 2% of the national budget, and will be deployed for both border security and internal crime-fighting tasks.
The IFP will also build a border wall to improve security and combat illegal immigration, while upgrading technology under an independent national immigration inspection agency.
Businesses that employ illegal immigrants will be banned from operating for a certain period of time, while licensing procedures will be reviewed and a six-month amnesty will be introduced to allow people to regularize their paperwork.
Upon the end of load shedding, IFP pledged to at least partially privatize Eskom, saying it would be “operated through a public-private partnership” through which electricity bills in poorer areas would be subsidized.
The IFP deregulates fuel prices, provides guarantees, and allows entry into the import industry to anyone who can build a refinery to state-set standards.
Coal is retained, but gas is produced from the coal. Solar, wind and other means will be used to increase the country's power generation capacity.New statehouse and low-cost housing will be built with solar panels
IFP intends to provide relief to citizens who cannot afford housing by partnering with the private sector to implement a low-cost housing rental system using state-owned land and providing serviced sites for self-construction of housing. .
The party plans to carry out a land ownership audit aimed at identifying state-owned land for redistribution, while maintaining its policy of “expropriation with reasonable compensation.”
The Ingonyama Trust will continue, and a similar approach to common land management through traditional leadership structures will be extended to the rest of the country under an IFP-led government.
Priority will be given to the safety and protection of traditional leaders currently under threat, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, while they will also be empowered to play a leading role in rural development.
The IFP will also merge the ministries of agriculture, land affairs and traditional affairs into a single entity to reduce costs and streamline functions at the cabinet level.
