Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Peter Groenewald has called on South Africans to “take action” against the ruling ANC and vote for the opposition multiparty coalition that brought it to power in May. called for their removal.
Addressing the launch of the FF+ manifesto in Pretoria on Saturday, Groenewald said the party had a plan to stop the “looting” of South Africa and rebuild the economy.
He said the ANC had pushed South Africa “to the brink of ruin and bankruptcy” and said it was time to “pick up the pieces and start rebuilding.”
The ANC's economic policies, including affirmative action and black economic empowerment, were central to South Africa's demise and could be reversed if a multi-party government with FF+ is installed after the May 29 national and local elections. will be done.
BEE has disappointed the majority of South Africans and only benefited the ANC.
“The only people who benefit from BEE are the politically connected. The ANC has created a new apartheid in South Africa, an apartheid of the politically connected…” he said.
FF+ will also introduce a Finance Commission to control government spending, ushering in a return to a market-driven free market economy that will create the conditions for greater job creation and economic development.
Reducing the size of the central government would reduce both personal and corporate taxes, thereby “reducing the central government's role in people's lives.''
FF+ was committed to “restoring local autonomy” and at the same time promoting “self-reliant communities” as building blocks of broader society.
The party also worked to promote the right of communities to “self-determination” as the “cement” of society, while repealing laws on “discrimination on the basis of skin color.”
FF+ is a member of South Africa's multiparty charter, an opposition coalition that wants to exclude the ANC from public office and intends to replace it at national and provincial levels.
Groenewald said a coalition at the state level could halt South Africa's “decline”.
Other changes proposed by FF+ in its manifesto include the establishment of a parent- and community-led mother tongue education system and efforts to “raise the bar” in education.
An FF+ government would reduce the powers of trade unions, especially in the education sector, and the party would completely abolish trade unions due to the critical nature of the service and replace them with a liaison system.
Groenewald said FF+ opposes the introduction of National Health Insurance (NHI), saying it would “only exacerbate the crisis” in the medical sector.
“National Health Insurance must object, even if the matter has to go to the Constitutional Court,” he said.
FF+ would decentralize government and power and restore small municipalities that have been merging since 1994 to give residents a more direct say in governing the places they live.
The party also wants to improve border control and security, and says it will prioritize South Africans both in terms of small business opportunities and jobs.
Mr Groenewald said the ANC had weakened the criminal justice system by making political appointments, but that an FF+ government would professionalize its work, reintroduce specialist units and appoint a chief with police experience. He said he would change this situation.
