EFF ELECTIONS MANIFESTO: - NOW IS THE TIME FOR ECONOMIC FREEDOM!
PREFACE BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS' PRESIDENT JULIUS MALEMA:
The year 2014 is a crucial year in the history of South Africa. It is crucial because it marks exactly 20 years since the first democratic election, which ended centuries of colonial rule and apartheid subjugation of the black majority. It is also a crucial year because the dawn of political freedom came with so many promises But 20 years later; the conditions of majority of the people are just getting worse.
South Africa is supposed to be celebrating 20 years of democracy and true freedom, but the reality is that
1. 20 years later, black people are still not free!
2. 20 years later, black people are still trapped in squalor, unsafe and unhealthy conditions!
3. 20 years later, the black majority is still trapped in landlessness, homelessness and hopelessness!
4. 20 years later, young and old black workers are still subjected to slave wages and dangerous working conditions in the mines, farms, factories, retail stores, and other workplaces!
5. 20 years later, domestic workers and farm workers still work under difficult conditions without basic workers' rights!
6. 20 years later, black people battle to survive financially, trapped by debt and often blacklisted by Credit bureaux!
7. 20 years later, black women still suffer triple oppression and exploitation on the basis of their gender, race and class!
8. 20 years later, we still have communities across the country without basic services such as water, sanitation and healthcare facilities!
9. 20 years later, the people of Mothutlung in the North West, Giyani in Limpopo and all over South Africa still do not have water!
10. 20 years later, black communities in many provinces are expected to be satisfied with open toilets and no running water!
11. 20 years later, the quality of our education system is deteriorating!
12. 20 years later, the fishing community in the Coastal Provinces are still denied access to fishing rights!
13. 20 years later, black professionals in all spheres of work, the accountants, auditors, doctors, academics, lawyers, engineers, professionals in the ICT sector and many other professions are still subjected to racial discrimination and unequal treatment!
14. 20 years later, the police still kill people! They killed them in Marikana, Mothutlung, Ficksburg, Relela and all over South Africa!
15. 20 years, civil servants, particularly teachers, nurses and police are treated with disrespect and paid low salaries!
16. 20 years later, our armed forces, particularly the army are not paid adequate salaries, not given the respect they deserve, and are sent to fight illegal wars!
17. 20 years later, military veterans, particularly from former liberation movement are still neglected.
18. 20 years later, the majority of poor black children are financially excluded from institutions of higher learning!
19. 20 years later, women and children are still subjected to violent crimes, particularly rape!
20. 20 years, the conditions of people with disabilities have not been improved!
21. 20 years later, the land question has not been addressed and our land still does not yet belong to all who live on it
22. 20 years later, black people still do not have their dignity!
It is therefore upon us as Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to offer and deliver hope and inspiration to the people of South Africa, the continent and beyond. EFF is an organisation and movement for all the people of South Africa. It is an organisation for and of the people.
EFF understands that as a movement dedicated to positively changing the conditions of our people; we need to do the following:
a) Secure mass support in all corners of South Africa.
b) Win political power through mobilising and organising all the people of South Africa to vote for EFF.
c) Control the State through electoral politics in order to transform it for the benefit of all people.
d) Gain control of the economy in order to transform it to benefit all South Africans.
Since our recent formation as an economic emancipation movement, we have been able to win mass support across all spectrums of South African society. It is now upon us to convert this mass support into actual votes in the upcoming elections, in order to win political power.
In order to do this, the EFF needs to present its commitments to the people of South Africa, through its Election Manifesto. The EFF Election Manifesto, unlike others, does not present promises; it offers commitments that will be implemented.
Central to our programme is a struggle for democratic ownership and control of the key means of production by the people. Our programme is socialist. As a Marxist-Leninist Fanonian organisation, we believe that it is only through a socialist transformation programme, that we will end the suffering of our people. Key components of this socialist programme are contained in our Election Manifesto.
When we make commitments to fight for minimum wages for all, we as EFF will use our organisational and mobilisation capacity to deliver on all our commitments. The Election Manifesto of the EFF is our programme of action for the next 5 years. When in government, the EFF will mobilise the whole society to play a meaningful role in transforming South Africa for the betterment of all. Employment into senior positions of the EFF government will not be based on whether a person is a member of EFF or not, but will be based on their educational and skills capacity to play a meaningful role in our society
This Manifesto is a practical and implementable programme, which will shape and define the EFF government. There will be individuals, trapped by narrow neo-liberal thinking who will claim that only capitalism works. Yet it is evident that capitalism has failed to deliver to our people. The Manifesto represents the aspirations of the working class and the poor, and provides an alternative vision and is a solution for true transformation in South Africa.
The EFF Election Manifesto is inspired by our Founding Manifesto adopted in our first National Assembly. It is the product of deep consultation with the people of South Africa. All Fighters, Commissars, Organisers, Volunteers and Supporters should ensure that each and every voter in South Africa is familiar with the contents and meaning of this Election Manifesto
The EFF Election Manifesto takes account of the reality that there is enough wealth for everyone in South Africa. Currently this wealth is spread in a deeply unequal manner, due to prejudicial historical circumstances. Those who currently own the lion's share of South Africa's wealth acquired it illegally through colonial wars of dispossession and violent defeat of the majority of South Africa's people.
EFF plans to use political power to realise economic justice and such can only happen through maximum implementation of this Manifesto. South Africa, we present to you the Manifesto of the Economic Freedom Fighters for the 2014 General Elections. Now is the time for economic freedom!
Julius Malema, EFF Commander in Chief and President.
BACKGROUND:
In 1963, a Great African-American, Martin Luther-King Jnr gave a speech in front of 250 000 Civil Rights Activists as part of the campaign against racial segregation in the United States. While the context of the speech was specific to this time in history, the message resonated across all parts of the oppressed world. It is a message that continues to speak to the aspirations of oppressed people the world over.
In that speech, Martin Luther King said,
"This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children" (King, 1963).
Inspired by this notion, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) affirms that indeed this is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilising drug of gradualism... Now is the time for economic freedom. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rescue South Africa from deep levels of inequality, poverty, starvation, unemployment and under-employment. Now is the timeto share equally in South Africa's wealth. Now is the time to be counted in the world as an industrial nation with developed productive forces. Now is the time to bury corruption and methods of self- enrichment employed by the political elite. Now is the time for economic freedom!
We therefore present to the people of South Africa, Africa, and the world, the Economic Freedom Fighters' vision, programme and commitments for the year 2014 to 2019. These are authentic commitments and programmes, not a patchwork of empty promises and superficial reforms!
INTRODUCTION
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Manifesto is a perspective that contains practical and implementable commitments and a programme of action which will lead to the economic emancipation of the people of South Africa. The Manifesto draws its inspiration from the historic Founding Conference of the EFF, the National Assembly onwhat is to be done in Soweto, which mandated revolutionary Activists, Fighters, Commissars and Organisers to fight the struggle for economic freedom in our lifetime.
The most important aspect about the EFF Manifesto is that it gives practical programmes, commitments, and actions on what is to be done by the EFF government when it takes political power in the 2014 General Elections. The EFF contests elections in order to win political power then will use the political power to control and transform the State, and then revolutionise the economy for the benefit of all South Africans. It is our firm belief and conviction that economic freedom will be attained through implementation of 7 cardinal pillars, which are:
1) Expropriation of South Africa's land without compensation for equal redistribution in and use.
2) Nationalisation of mines, banks, and other strategic sectors of the economy, without compensation.
3) Building state and government capacity, which will lead to the abolition of tenders.
4) Free quality education, healthcare, houses, and sanitation.
5) Massive protected industrial development to create millions of sustainable jobs, including the introduction of minimum wages in order to close the wage gap between the rich and the poor, close the apartheid wage gap and promote rapid career paths for all people in the workplace.
6) Massive development of the African economy and advocating for a move from reconciliation to justice on the entire continent.
7) Open, accountable, corrupt-free government and society without fear of victimisation by state agencies.
SECTION 1: WHERE ARE WE AS SOUTH AFRICA IN 2014? 27 PROBLEMS:
South Africa is trapped in a society with massive economic and social inequalities, high levels of unemployment, poverty, and importantly under-employment of a large section of the economically active population. The post 1994 government has failed in virtually all its commitments and has chosen to shift the goal posts from 2014 to 2030 through a neo- liberal and impractical National Development Plan Vision 2030. As we stand in 2014, the following are concrete realities:
1. Land still belongs to those who owned it before 1994, and the promise and intent to achieve 30% land redistribution by 2014 has not been achieved, instead a mere 7% of land was bought by government for redistribution purposes
2. Evictions on farms, forcible removals of people from mineral rich communal areas and in inner cities continue unabated.
3. The extraction of mineral resources beneath South Africa's soil continues to leave devastating consequences, desperately poor mining communities, underpaid mineworkers, a permanently damaged environment, while billions in profit benefit a handful of corporations
4. Poverty is still rampant, and clearly the intention and goal to halve poverty by 2014 has not been achieved, and is not in sight for the foreseeable future.
5. Inequality remains rampant with white households still earn on average 6 times more than black households 20 years after democracy.
6. The post 1994 government has not managed to bring the crisis levels of unemployment below 20% since 1994, even in instances where marginal levels of economic growth were realised. In 2014, more than 7 million capable and ready to work South Africans are unemployed.
7. Majority of those employed have not noticed real increases in wages, and more than 50% of workers are paid less than R2800 per month.
8. The promise to create sustainable jobs and livelihoods for all has not been met by those governing South Africa on behalf of capitalist interests.
9. The share of labour absorptive sectors in the overall South African economy is declining, particularly in agriculture and manufacturing.
10. South Africa continues to import virtually all consumer goods and services, including clothes, electronic gadgets, furniture, food and its implements, machinery, toys, and many other commodity goods.
11. Education progress and success still reflect the apartheid patterns, with the most successful schools being white schools. Under this, 93% of schools in South Africa have no libraries; 88% have no laboratories; 81% have no computers; 16% have no electricity; 61% have no arrangement for disposal of sewage.
12. Adult illiteracy has not been addressed by the post 1994 government, and remains a glaring challenge.
13. Despite the numbers of students who graduate at Senior Certificate level, the South African post-1994 government has not massively invested in the expansion of the post-secondary training and education capacity.
14. The success rate of black, particularly African students in institutions of Higher Learning is devastatingly low, with as many as 60% of African students dropping out due to lack of support and financial difficulties.
15. Millions of South Africans still live in shacks and informal settlements with no access to basic services such as clean water, sanitation, electricity, healthcare, and education facilities.
16. There is still no National Health Insurance despite the commitment to implement it within the five years from 2009.
17. Many villages and settlements still do not have access to clinics and basic healthcare facilities. Where there are clinics, they close at night, denying people access to healthcare when they need it most.
18. The number of healthcare practitioners, particularly doctors is very low relative to the population size of South Africa.
19. Rural areas are trapped in the same dire conditions that they were in before 1994, with no introduction of real economic activities and programmes for rural communities.
20. South Africa is food insecure. South Africa imports more food than it exports, which effectively mean that with the food produced in South Africa only, the nation cannot feed itself.
21. A recently published Human Sciences Research Council Report shows that only "45.6% of the population were food secure, 28.3% were at risk of hunger and 26.0% experienced hunger (were food insecure). The largest percentage of participants who experienced hunger (food insecurity) was in urban informal (32.4%) and in rural formal (37.0%) localities" (HSRC, 2013).
22. Professionals such as doctors, chartered accountants, auditors, engineers, lawyers, professionals in the ICT sector, and even government bureaucrats continue to suffer discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and origin.
23. The South African state is incapable of fulfilling and implementing even the most basic of service delivery aspects and instead relies on Tenders and Contracts, which are often corruptly awarded to incapable and colluding contractors who charge the state higher fees than is required and warranted.
24. The townships and squatter camps remain violent and riddled by drugs and hopelessness of the youth, which exacerbates gender-based violence.
25. Students are excluded from institutions of higher learning for financial reasons.
26. The apartheid spatial planning which underdeveloped the settlements of black people, particularly townships and rural villages, are still largely reflected in South African society.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THESE REALITIES?
1. None of the existing political parties have met their Manifesto promises since 1994, and the ruling political party has chosen to shift the goal posts, while continuing to use the same strategy that failed them in the past 20 years.
2. None of the existing political parties is proposing a radical economic transformation model which will change South Africa's economy for the benefit of all South Africans.
3. None of the existing political parties is willing to develop a programme to ensure that South Africa's natural resources are used for the benefit of all.
4. The current state is nothing than a committee for the management of the common affairs of the bourgeoisie, because Capital (the means of production such as land, Mines, banks, huge factories and retail stores) remains in private hands.
5. All political parties limit their diagnosis of South Africa's problems to poverty, unemployment and inequalities, while ignoring the reality that South Africa has a massive and urgent problem of under-employment, meaning that those employed are not properly remunerated and constitute a mass of the working poor, subjected to unscrupulous micro-lenders and illegal aMashonisa in their workplaces and communities.
6. All political parties ignore the structural causes of poverty and unemployment which is the highly monopolised economy especially in mining, agriculture and banking which is draining the country of its natural, mineral and financial resources, creating wealth and jobs in North America, Europe, Japan and China instead of in South Africa.
SECTION 2: CONTEXT OF COMMITMENTS AND PROGRAMMES OF EFF GOVERNMENT:
Our vision and mission are contained in these 7 cardinal pillars for economic freedom in our lifetime, which is a generational mission. The 7 cardinal pillars are a revolutionary programme which will transform the South African society and economy for the benefit of all. Our 7 cardinal pillars recognise that as government, the EFF should separate and coherently address 7 broad categories that speak to a clear programme on how we will make South Africa a better and winning nation:
A. Economic Emancipation for rapid economic and industrial development.
B. Provision of quality social welfare services.
C. Radical transformation of the state into a people's driven state and governance.
D. Sectoral commitment derived from the EFF Manifesto Consultation process.
E. How is the EFF Government going to realise these objectives?
F. Financing the EFF Government Manifesto.
G. International Relations, Cooperation and Solidarity.
It is important to isolate these seven aspects, with concrete commitments and programmes underpinning each of these, because confusing and mixing them leaves a void on what needs to be done in other sectors. This does not mean that there is no interrelationship between the economic, social welfare and governance aspects of our society. It means that concrete objectives and aims should be set in each of these areas, so that the EFF government is assessed as per these commitments.
This separation is important because all the currently developed nations pursued development through massive protected industrialisation and since the rise and global triumph of neo-liberalism; development is typically reduced to social welfare aspects. The EFF's approach to this the political struggle is concurrent radical pursuit of sustainable industrial economic development and social welfare development, while getting the governance issues right. Pursuit of social welfare cannot and should not be separated from industrial economic development, and that is what distinguishes EFF from all the Political formations in South Africa.
SECTION 3: ECONOMIC EMANCIPATION FOR RAPID ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.
MASSIVE LABOUR-ABSORPTIVE SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT:
1. The EFF Government will ensure and lead massive and protected sustainable industrial development and diversification to create millions of decent jobs between 2014 and 2019. This will happen through state-led industrialisation, industrial diversification, protection of infant and existing industries through subsidies, increase of tariffs, and State aided marketing and promotion of South African products internally, across the Continent and worldwide, with a focus on key, progressive and most beneficial trading partners.
2. The EFF Government will ensure that a minimum of 50% of all South Africa's mineral resources are locally beneficiated and industrialised.
3. The EFF Government will ensure massive production of all food for local consumption to be produced and processed in South Africa. This will happen through intensification of small scale farming and agriculture, and strategic support given to all small scale agriculture including on provision of Trade routes. All food traders in South Africa will be compelled by law to buy South African food products and support efforts that produce these food products.
4. The EFF Government will build a sustainable food economic chain which will supply food items to other parts of the world, particularly in Africa, China, Latin and India. This will lead to the creation of millions of jobs across the entire food chain.
5. The EFF Government will help communities in the Coastal areas to start Agro-fishing businesses and cooperatives, which will be their main source of income and livelihoods.
6. The EFF Government will grant Fishing rights to the Fishing communities in the Coastal areas and provide them with strategic support to ensure that fishing becomes a sustainable economic activity.
7. The EFF Government will ensure that all products and good that contribute to State construction projects should be locally produced, unless in exceptional cases where there is practically no capacity to produce locally.
8. The EFF Government will ensure the development, protection, and localisation of industries which produce basic and daily use goods and services through Import Substitution Mechanisms. These include:
a. Glass, Cups, Plates, Spoons, etc.
b. Tiles and Building Materials.
c. Furniture, light-bulbs and Decorations.
d. Solar water geysers.
e. Washing products and soaps.
f. Electronics.
g. Textile industry, including clothes and shoes.
9. The EFF Government will support Small and Medium Enterprises to play an active role in the economy by building and supporting 1 million enterprises between 2014 and 2019 which employ a minimum of 5 people each. This will necessarily require a State Owned Bank whose mission will be provision of developmental finance and support mechanisms.
10. The EFF Government will ensure that Small and Medium Enterprises will be given strategic support and legislation passed to ensure that key industrial inputs and services to big corporations and companies are provided for by SMMEs.
11. The EFF Government will protect the rights of street hawkers to trade in a safe and clean environment in all the cities of South Africa without fear of police harassment.
MINIMUM WAGES AND THE BANNING OF LABOUR BROKERS:
1. The EFF government will implement a minimum wage of R4500 across the board for all full-time workers.
2. The EFF Government will pass legislation to ensure that employment in the following sectors is permanent and protected by the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) and increase of minimum wages in all sectors, which will take the following format:
a. Mineworkers: R12 500 per month.
b. Farm workers: R5000 per month.
c. Manufacturing workers: R6500.
d. Retail Workers (Cashiers and Retail Store Assistants): R5000.
e. Builders: R7000.
f. Petrol Attendants: R5000
g. Cleaners: R4500
h. Domestic Workers: R4500
i. Private Security Guards: R7500.
j. Full time Waiters and Waitresses: R4500.
3. The EFF Government will abolish all contract work and labour brokers, and pass legislation that all work should be official and formal. We will regulate retrenchments by compelling companies to continue paying workers' salaries for 6 months post retrenchment.
4. The EFF Government will ensure there is equal pay for equal work, irrespective of gender, race, class and place of origin.
5. The EFF Government will ensure that all workers enjoy the same rights as set out in labour law irrespective of their immigration status. This will ensure the unity of working class and combat xenophobia.
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND WATER:
1. The EFF Government will invest heavily in green energy sources, including windmills, solar water heaters and all forms of solar energy with the intention of moving away from coal energy dependency.
2. The EFF Government will ensure that the expansion of South Africa's energy sources and ensuring that all energy needed for South Africa, including fuel is processed in the country.
3. The EFF Government will subsidise electricity for industrial and household usage to ensure that electricity costs 50% less than the current costs by 2019.
4. The EFF Government will ensure that all homes shall have 200 units free basic electricity
5. The EFF Government will scrap the BHP Billiton unethical deal that gives away up to 11% of the national energy to a foreign multinational at below cost whilst the poor are made to pay more.
6. The EFF Government will ensure water sustainability for daily and industrial usage through building of dams and huge water projects which will sustainably supply South Africa.
7. The EFF Government will ensure that all communities have access to quality, sustainable water.
8. The EFF Government will continue with the expansion of the Lesotho Water Highlands Project to supply water to most parts of South Africa, but also ensure that the people of Lesotho benefit from the scheme.
9. The EFF Government will develop sustainable and cheaper desalination process to convert sea water to potable water that will be pumped inland and supply all areas that are in need of water.
BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION:
1) The EFF Government will radically review black economic empowerment and develop mechanism to limit and ultimately curb the recurrent enrichment of few individuals who have benefited from Empowerment Charters.
2) The EFF Government will ensure that ownership and control of all businesses in South Africa that are not in the sphere of state control and ownership is reflective of the country's demographics.
3) The EFF Government will pursue and ensure maximum compliance to affirmative action laws to prioritise the employment of people with disabilities, black women, black people and women of all races in order to end the white male domination in the economy.
4) The EFF Government will abolish incentives that pay white companies for complying with affirmative action.
SECTION 4: PROVISION OF QUALITY SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION, DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE SERVICES.
A South Africa bedevilled by crisis levels of poverty and access to basic services, needs an urgent programme to deliver quality and sustainable services. EFF's approach to delivery of basic services to the people is that it should be labour-absorptive, and should produce quality products, goods and services. The social welfare services which the EFF Government will qualitatively provide are the following:
1) Quality and Extensive Education and Training
2) Quality Healthcare.
3) Research & Development and Science and technology Innovation.
4) Quality Housing and Sanitation.
5) Safety and Security.
6) Transformation of the criminal justice system.
7) Transformation of the correctional services system.
8) Youth Development.
9) Gender equality and women emancipation.
10) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersexual (LGBTI).
11) Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation.
12) Quality Roads and Infrastructure.
13) Social Grants.
14) Social Cohesion.
15) Rural Development.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
1) The EFF Government will provide free quality education for the poor from early childhood development to the attainment of post- secondary qualification, and it will put in place mechanisms to encourage students to attain post-graduate degrees and qualifications.
2) The EFF Government will embark on a programme of providing libraries, internet, laboratories and computer labs, particularly to rural schools.
3) The EFF Government will impose an education tax on all corporations which will be the source of funding for the education and training of all South Africans.
4) The EFF Government will heavily invest in the development and expansion of post- secondary training and education capacity to absorb all students who come from the secondary education system. This means expansion of the existing universities and FET Colleges, and building more universities and FET Colleges.
5) The EFF government will ensure that the number of first year students accepted in institutions of higher learning increases by 100% in the period 2014 to 2019, and mechanisms to ensure high pass rates be put in place to ensure their success.
6) The EFF Government will introduce a scholarship which will take a minimum of 15 000 students (5000 of which will be medical practitioners) to the best universities across the world to attain skills, education and expertise on various fields.
7) The EFF Government will assist all students who have faced academic exclusions and ensure that they are redirected to other useful economic activities.
8) The EFF Government will cancel the debts of all students who owe institutions of higher learning money for academic purposes.
9) The EFF Government will ensure that all education and training is directly linked to community service and industries in order to prepare human beings who will positively and decidedly contribute to the development of our communities and economy.
10) The EFF shall investigate the introduction of the best and cost effective devices (tablets and laptops) to all learners to address textbooks shortage and access to the modern telecommunications.
11) The EFF Government will introduce history as a compulsory subject to instil adequate consciousness.
12) The EFF Government will ensure that there is universal provision of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes and make it compulsory for children of age 3 years and above to be part of the ECD.
13) The EFF Government will ensure that there is no child who learns under a tree rather than a classroom within five years.
14) The EFF Government will ensure that all learners have access to education with proper textbooks and learning and teaching support materials.
15) The EFF Government will intensify training of teachers and re-open teachers colleges with high level capacity to train and re-train all teachers.
16) The EFF Government will massively scale up adult literacy campaign to ensure that literary rate is 98% by 2019.
17) The EFF Government will improve the remuneration and working conditions of academics and encourage them to continue with teaching and research, and not take up administrative posts in both private and public institutions.
18) The EFF Government will lead the transformation of professional bodies for Chartered Accountants, Engineers, Architects and all professions to uphold the need for speedier transformation which will result in more previously disadvantaged individuals being accredited professionals.
HEALTHCARE:
1) The EFF Government will ensure that massive training of Professional and Community Healthcare Practitioners is a priority in this sector.
2) The EFF Government will build a State Pharmaceutical Company to produce medicines and distribute them to hospitals and clinics.
3) The EFF Government will build a state owned healthcare equipment company to build healthcare equipments.
4) The EFF Government will produce essential generic medicines without regard to Intellectual Property Rights regimes.
5) The EFF Government will ensure that healthcare facilities are available to all communities through Clinics, Hospitals and Community based healthcare workers.
6) The EFF Government will send a minimum of 5000 young South Africans per annum to train as doctors in the best universities across the world.
7) The EFF Government will ensure that hospital and healthcare institutions are run by medical practitioners with adequate administrative experience.
8) The EFF Government will expedite the implementation of National Health Insurance.
9) The EFF Government will produce and distribute free sanitary towels to poor women.
10) The EFF Government will ensure that there is always adequate medicines and treatment in all hospitals.
11) The EFF Government will ensure that hospital care is not determined by provincial boundaries and that all patients should be treated in hospitals they attend.
12) The EFF Government will ensure that traditional healers are incorporated into the healthcare system.
13) The EFF Government will work towards realising a 0% HIV infection rate in South Africa.
14) The EFF Government will reopen nursing colleges.
HOUSING AND SANITATION:
1) The EFF Government will provide quality, spacious houses to all the people, which will be within sustainable human settlements with basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation, schools, sports and recreation grounds and parks.
2) The EFF Government will subsidise housing finance for middle income earners, and pass laws which will lead to reduction of 20 to 30 years housing loans to a maximum of 10 years.
3) The EFF will make it illegal for banks to repossess houses from people who have paid 50% of the bonds, and are unable to continue paying the bond due to socio- economic circumstances.
4) The EFF Government will make it illegal to use houses as surety for any loans from financial institutions.
5) The EFF Government will provide quality sanitation for all, and ensure that all households have access to decent toilets.
6) The EFF Government will abolish the bucket system as a form of sanitation within 5 years from 2014 to 2019.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AND SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:
1) The EFF Government will heavily invest in Research & Development and heavily invest in and subsidise technological and scientific innovations and discoveries.
2) The EFF Government will support and subsidise technological innovation which will lead to the development and manufacturing of a South African Automobile (Car), Computer, Tablet, Phone and other means of world class technological innovations.
3) The EFF Government will build a specified Technology University or Institute whose primary focus will be technological innovation.
4) The EFF Government will use existing capacity to provide high speed and quality broadband to all schools and all institutions of higher learning in South Africa.
SAFETY AND SECURITY:
1) The EFF Government will ensure that our communities are safe by increasing police visibility and making the criminal justice system more efficient.
2) The EFF Government will provide permanent jobs to all Police Reservists, and make sure that they are visible in all their communities.
3) The EFF Government will guarantee the right of communities to assemble and protest, with no intimidation from the police.
4) The EFF Government will completely ban live ammunition during protests.
5) The EFF Government will ensure that all security workers protecting state institutions, facilities, and buildings will be employed by the state with better conditions and wages.
6) The EFF Government will strictly regulate the private security industry, and completely disallow foreign ownership of private security companies in South Africa.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:
1) The EFF Government will ensure that the criminal justice system is efficient, and all South African citizens have access to justice.
2) The EFF Government will run massive community awareness and education programmes to inform and educate citizens about their rights.
3) The EFF Government will ensure that there is never any South African who will be denied access to all Courts, from Magistrate Courts to Constitutional Court, irrespective of their race, gender and economic status.
4) The EFF Government will establish specialised courts to deal with public service corruption and maladministration; sexual offences, traffic offences, and improve the courts dealing with domestic and marital matters.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE CORRECTIONAL SERVICES SYSTEM:
1) The EFF Government will ensure that the correctional services system is predominalty corrective, not punitive. The levels of re-arrests in South Africa are very high, because the country's correctional services system is not rehabilitative.
2) The EFF Government will ensure that the correctional services system is transformed to include compulsory education and skilling for all prisoners. This should be followed by scrapping the criminal record statuses of ex-convicts who were convicted of certain schedules of crime, depending on the seriousness of the crimes committed.
3) The EFF Government will ensure that there is purpose and substance to rehabilitation with the intention to properly Re-integrate Ex-Offenders as productive, useful and law abiding citizens.
4) EFF Government will ensure that no correctional services facility and programme is run by private corporations and companies.
5) The EFF Government will ensure that, where possible, prisoners should do community work and service.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT:
1) Youth Development cuts across all aspects of the EFF Manifesto, because the jobs the EFF Government will create will primarily benefit the youth.
2) The EFF Government will mainstream youth development in all sectors of government, and pursue active programmes to professionalise youth work.
3) The EFF Government will pass legislations that will ensure that all government departments and all public institutions employ a minimum of 40% of their workforce from people between the ages of 18 and 35.
4) The EFF Government will ensure that all private corporations employ a minimum of 35% of the workforce as people between the ages of 18 and 35.
5) The EFF Government will ensure that all communities have a Youth Information and Advisory Centre which will inform, educate and guide young people on possible career paths and educational opportunities available in South Africa.
6) The EFF Government will ensure that a minimum of 40% of all budgets allocated to Government departments at all spheres of government are allocated for the purpose of youth empowerment and upliftment.
GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN EMANCIPATION:
1) Women have suffered most from the neo-liberal reality of the past 20 years. The vicious circle of triple oppression has not been broken for black women in particular- who continue to be discriminated against on the basis of race, class and gender. The EFF recognises that while patriarchy and sexism is pervasive in our society, it is black women who suffer the most from gender based violence. To date, the interventions to deal with violence against women have been superficial, half- hearted and based on an incorrect understanding of the root causes of the vulnerability of women.
2) The EFF Government will strive to realise the liberation of women, through a variety of interventions, starting with prioritising women when it comes to the benefits of economic emancipation. These interventions will include education against patriarchy and sexism, legislation to protect and promote women's liberation and the close monitoring of the implementation of the same in order to realise genuine and sustainable empowerment of women in society, the family and the workplace.
3) The EFF believes that gender-based violence and related anti-social activities are reinforced and even sustained by the deplorable general conditions of our people. Therefore a key to female emancipation is the emancipation of all. The EFF will emphasise transforming the lives of our people in the poorest of areas from one of generalised structural violence, as a mechanism to end all violence, including violence against women.
4) The EFF Government will ensure the following key interventions happen:
a. A minimum of 50% women representation in all economic benefit and political participation and managerial and leadership responsibility.
b. Gender education and training to be compulsory for all (e.g. school, work, family, church, legislative and executive sectors, civil society).
c. Educate the police on gender justice and establish specialised law enforcement units to deal with women related crimes.
d. Strengthen education of men on patriarchy, sexism and misogyny.
e. Engage custodians of tradition, faith leaders and other cultural practitioners to collectively find means to combat the oppression of women.
5) The EFF Government will have a special unit in the police, supported by special legal and social work services to combat the open assault on women. We do this because we recognize our society has reached a state of crisis when it comes to rape and violence against women.
SPORTS, ARTS, CULTURE AND RECREATION:
1) The EFF recognises that there can be no normal sports in an abnormal society. In modern times sport serves the task of making money and profits. Furthermore, global capitalism has turned sport into the opium of the masses and a process of deepening alienation and selling of products. Sports must be liberated from the clutches of the monied class and be returned to the people.
2) The EFF Government is committed to the principle that, the development and participation of sporting codes must not be tailored primarily for commercial success, but must be part of the national reconstruction and mass participation for recreation, building of communities, breaking of racial, gender and class divisions and that sport must contribute to physical health of the nation. To this extent national teams excelling in the Olympics are critically important within a framework of a genuinely transformed society which will be reflected in the composition of the national teams. South Africa is a black majority country; the national teams must reflect this reality. All our young people must be given support within the commitment to mass sport to excel and be appointed to the national team.
3) The EFF Government will promote and diversify sports participation in all communities, and ensure that the most common public spaces in our communities and sporting fields for various sporting codes. This should happen through development, training and support of all Sporting coaches in all fields.
4) The EFF Government will ensure that the primary responsibility and obligation of sports departments in all spheres of government is training and employment of various sporting coaches who will assist communities and schools in sports excellence.
5) The EFF Government will in the first 5 years of government pass legislation to guarantee a minimum of 75% locally produced content in all radio and television stations.
6) The EFF Government will introduce local theatres and arts facilities to train and promote local Creative industry.
7) The EFF Government will support artists and writers guilds through the provision of a minimum allowances for certified artists for a portion of the year when they are not getting any income from their artistic endeavours.
8) The EFF Government will impose strict laws and penalties against all forms of piracy.
9) The EFF Government will make sports participation compulsory in all schools.
QUALITY ROADS, TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE:
1) The EFF Government will ensure a labour-absorptive construction of quality roads for all communities through employing people in communities to ensure the sustainability of the roads.
2) The EFF Government will abolish eTolls and will physically remove them from our roads.
3) The EFF Government will subsidize the taxi industry with the intention of reducing taxi fares and improving salaries and working conditions of taxi drivers.
4) The EFF Government will expand the railways, buy new trains, and investigate affordable speed trains alongside areas such as Moloto Road between Tshwane and Nkangala region in Mpumalanga, between Soweto and Johannesburg, between Durban and Johannesburg to transport people and many goods that come from the harbour.
5) The EFF Government will tar all access roads to all townships and villages in South Africa.
6) The EFF Government will ensure that the public transport system is accessible to people with disabilities.
7) The EFF Government will invest in the expansion of the aviation industries and airways in order to encourage more passengers to use air transport.
SOCIAL GRANTS:
1) Social grants are an important aspect of bringing the poorest of the poor into some level of economic participation, and the EFF government will introduce a system which will link social grants to development.
2) The EFF appreciates that social grants are not a permanent solution to the crisis of South Africa's unemployment, poverty and inequalities. However, this does not mean that we should abolish social grants. Instead, we will make social grants more valuable to impact meaningfully in the lives of poor South Africans.
3) The EFF Government will create sustainable jobs and open educational and training opportunities for women who receive child support grants, so that child bearing is not seen as a basis to receive social grants.
4) Within this framework and commitment, the EFF Government will increase social grants to take the following shape:
a. Grant for older persons: Increase from R1300 to R2600 per month.
b. Disability grant: Increase from R1200 to R2400 per month.
c. War veterans grant: Increase from R1220 to R2440 per month.
d. Care dependency grant: Increase from to R1200 to R2400 per month.
e. Foster child grant: Increase from R800 to R1600 per month.
f. Child support grant: Increase from R300 to R600 per month.
5) The increase of all the social grants is primarily an instrument to boost local economies and address crisis levels of poverty.
6) With creation of millions of jobs, the number of dependents on social grants will gradually decrease, because many people will be receiving sustainable income from the jobs they will occupy.
7) All social grants will be paid through the post office and post bank.
8) The EFF Government will introduce a social grant of R2500 per month for all terminally ill South Africans.
9) The EFF Government will explore and investigate the possibility and practicality of grants for unemployed people and also pay attention to the Basic Income Grant (BIG).
SOCIAL COHESION:
1) The EFF Government will be a government of all races, and will not discriminate against any South African on the basis of race and skin colour. All South Africans will be judged by the content of their character and contribution, not by the colour of their skins.
2) Social cohesion and unity of all South Africans will be promoted by EFF Government through greater integration of our communities, particularly schools, institutions of higher learning, training facilities and human settlements.
3) The EFF Government will criminalise all forms of racism and tribalism and run a programme to enlighten people that we are one people with a common vision and destiny.
4) The EFF Government will respect the rights of all regions to exist and cherish the diversity that define South Africa.
5) The EFF Government will work with Religious leaders, churches and all religious institutions in the moral regeneration of our society.
RURAL DEVELOPMENT, LAND AND AGRARIAN REFORM:
1) The EFF Government's ideological, political and programmatic approach to rural development is inspired by the notion that there should be "Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country".
2) The EFF's view of rural development is not trapped in the notion that the rurality of rural areas should be left intact, instead, rural areas should begin to partake in real economic activities and programmes, which should be supported and financed by the State.
3) The EFF Government custodianship of all land will lead into equal redistribution of all land amongst all people.
4) The EFF Government will help small scale agriculture with agricultural implements, bulk irrigation schemes, bulk stock feeding schemes and medication to produce quality agricultural products.
5) The EFF Government will revive abandoned factories in the townships and rural areas.
6) The EFF Government will help chicken farmers with state owned hatcheries, abattoirs and chicken processing factories which will be at the centre of growing and assisting the production of chicken products.
7) The EFF Government will help small agriculture to gain sustainable access to markets through increasing state consumption of food and agricultural products from small scale farmers, compelling food retailers to buy food and agricultural products locally and opening African and world food markets.
8) The EFF government shall pass laws to prohibit the production of Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs) specifically maize, the staple diet of the people.
9) National campaigns shall be undertaken to educate the nation about the dangers of GMOs.
10) Institutions of higher learning shall be required to provide courses in rural development to prepare graduates for national service.
11) All rural relations must be guided by the values that drive national reconstruction justice and dignity for all.
FIGHTING CORRUPTION:
1) The EFF Government will increase, harness and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of governance institutions to avoid all forms of corruption.
2) The EFF Government will abolish the usage of private companies in fulfilling functions and duties that government has to fulfil.
3) The EFF Government will ban the usage of Consultants and project management units as a basis of delivering government services.
4) The EFF Government will build internal capacity to fulfil its own functions and responsibilities, which prevents its employees being influenced and bribed by private companies and consultants in their fulfilment of government tasks.
5) The EFF Government will establish State Administration Courts to promptly respond to incidents of corruption and maladministration with the aim of firing and blacklisting corruption state employees and private companies, and recover money lost to corruption.
6) The EFF Government will introduce a minimum of 20 years sentence for all public representatives and servants convicted of corruption.
7) The EFF Government will protect the independence of the Public Protector, the Auditor General and all corruption watch institutions to independently oversee government programmes.
8) The EFF Government will illegalise all public representatives and public servants from doing any form of business with Public institutions.
SECTION 5: RADICAL TRANSFORMATION OF STATE INTO A PEOPLE'S DRIVEN STATE AND GOVERNANCE.
The EFF Government will lead one of the most radical State and governance transformation programmes ever seen in the history of South Africa, and this will include the following:
1) Building state capacity and efficiency.
2) Public representatives using public services.
3) Reduction of all private benefits for public representatives.
4) Making Tshwane the legislative and administrative capital of South Africa.
5) Building New Cities.
BUILDING STATE CAPACITY:
1) As concrete steps forward, which the state will initiate, establish and give strategic and financial support to, are the following:
a. A state housing-construction company.
b. A state roads-construction company.
c. A state cement company.
d. A state pharmaceutical company.
e. A state-owned mining company.
f. A state food-stocking company (to regulate prices of basic foodstuffs and guarantee food security for all).
g. A state owned Bank.
2) These state companies will be buttressed by state ownership of critical parts of the value chains in which these companies operate, e.g. petrochemicals (Sasol), steel (Arcelor-Mittal), etc, so that they produce essential inputs into the economy on a non-profit-maximisation basis.
3) Within this context, the state will employ engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers, and builders for sustainable tasks. Their responsibilities will include the construction of houses, roads, bridges, sports facilities, dams, sewerage systems and more. These should be subjected to strict standards of quality assurance to ensure that, at all times and in all instances state-constructed entities are of uncompromisingly good quality. State-owned companies will not be driven by principles of profit maximisation, but by the need to provide quality and affordable services to the people and the economy at large.
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION AND GOVERNANCE:
1) The EFF Government will ensure that all Members of Parliament and Legislatures hold a minimum of 1 community mass meeting per quarter in the constituency to which they are deployed or allocated by Parliament.
2) The EFF Government will pursue legislation which will compel all political parties to disclose their sources of income and funding, to avoid a situation where illegally acquired and foreign money is used to garner support and votes in elections.
3) The EFF Government will ensure that memoranda for all protests in all communities reach the Presidency within 48 hours of the protest happening and responses given to protesters within 7 days of receipt of the memoranda.
4) The EFF Government will strengthen and make autonomous Monitoring and Evaluation of Government programmes and activities which will publicly announce whether government reached its set objectives within 6 months intervals.
5) The EFF Government will institute a policy of recall of public representatives who do not perform their tasks as per the programme they are assigned to.
6) The EFF Government will respect the rights of traditional leaders and will make sure that they all receive equal treatment and assistance across the board.
7) The EFF Government will ensure that the stipends and salaries given to Traditional Leaders are adequate to help them address ongoing day-to-day functions expected by their communities.
8) The EFF Government will reduce the number of national government ministries and departments and mainstream their functions
PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVES USING PUBLIC SERVICES:
1) As a broad and cogent principle, the EFF Government's approach to public representatives (those occupying political office through elections) is that because they are there on the mandate of the people to serve, the many perks associated with political office should be limited.
2) The lifestyle of representatives should reflect that of ordinary citizens. Because they are responsible for the allocation of resources, and the implementation and monitoring of services, public representatives and their dependants should be compelled, by law, to use only public services, particularly schools and healthcare facilities and services. This should apply to all public representatives from the President of the country to local municipal councillors.
ADEQUATE SALARIES AND WORKING CONDITIONS OF ALL PUBLIC SERVANTS:
1) The EFF Government will bring back the dignity of public servants by ensuring that there is an increase in the salaries of all public servants by a minimum of 50% in the period 2014 to 2019, particularly teachers, nurses, police, warders and all government employees.
2) The EFF Government will reduce the wage gap within public servants to ensure that the wage gap between the lowest paid worker and the highest paid worker is narrowed.
3) The EFF Government will ensure that the employment of new entrants into the public service is enabled and facilitated through the abolition of the requirement of a 5 years working experience.
4) The EFF Government will work towards filling 100% of vacancies in all public service institutions.
REDUCTION OF BENEFITS FOR PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVES:
1) The EFF Government will implement a policy position that will lead to representatives not being bought cars or houses by the state. The amount of money the state spends on enhancing representatives' personal lifestyle conditions is in no way justifiable.
2) Under EFF Government, public representatives with salaries, ministers, MECs and councillors should use their own cars and stay in their own houses, paid for by the salaries they are given by the state.
ONE CAPITAL CITY FOR SOUTH AFRICA:
1) The EFF Government will ensure that both the legislative and administrative capital should be in one city, which should be Tshwane, because of its accessibility.
2) Under the EFF government, public representatives will, in this one capital, have adequate time to address issues of their responsibility, not having to travel almost every day.
BUILDING NEW CITIES:
1) While EFF appreciates that building of new cities may exceed a period well beyond 5 years, as government, the EFF will begin with practical processes which will lead to the building of new cities.
2) The building of new cities will happen through Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which will enjoy consistent state support mechanisms and programmes and development of industries.
3) As part of addressing the industrial development of rural areas, the EFF Government will identify and concurrently run Special Economic Zones in the following areas of economic potential over the next five (2014 to 2019) years and build state- subsidised and incentivised cities alongside the SEZs for an additional 10 years, beginning in 2014:
a. Sekhukhune and Lephalale in Limpopo.
b. Bojanala in North West.
c. Kuruman in the Northern Cape
d. Welkom in the Free State.
e. Emalahleni (Witbank) in Mpumalanga.
f. Overberg in the Western Cape.
g. East London and Coega in the Eastern Cape.
h. Richards Bay in KwaZulu Natal
SECTION 6: HOW EFF GOVERNMENT WILL REALISE ITS COMMITMENTS
The key component to the realisation of these objectives lies in the political determination, competency, zeal and commitment of a Government in power with the necessary capacity to pass legislation, and implement it accurately. The central pillars of the programme lie in the following key programmes:
1) Land expropriation without compensation.
2) Nationalisation of Mines.
3) Nationalisation of private banks and strategic sectors of the economy.
4) Creation of a 100% State Owned Bank.
5) Retaining strategic control and ownership of current SOEs and giving these a developmental mandate.
6) Development of the African economy.
7) Building of progressive political, ideological and economic partnerships in the world.
LAND EXPROPRIATION WITHOUT COMPENSATION:
1) The EFF Government believes that without equal redistribution of land, there will never be genuine economic freedom, which is necessary if all our social welfare objectives are to be delivered in our lifetime.
2) The EFF Government will pass legislation to take all land to the custodianship of the State and all those who occupy and use the land will need to apply for the re-issue of licences to use it for agricultural purposes and other sustainable economic activities.
3) The EFF Government will ensure that land redistribution is equitable and its ownership and control reflects the demographics of South Africa, and those who work on the land will be given priority on land use.
4) The EFF Government will abolish all forms of foreign land ownership, and will institute a land lease system for foreign investors and companies to use the land for sustainable economic activities.
5) The EFF Government will adopt a principle of "use it or lose it" on land use, where those who do not use the land, loose it to the custodianship of the State.
6) The EFF Government will make it illegal for land to be used as surety for banks loans.
NATIONALISATION OF MINES:
1) The EFF Government's approach to nationalisation is that it should result in democratic and socialised ownership and control of the means of production by the workers, to avoid a situation where the state will exclusively own the means of production and suppress workers' interests and aspirations.
2) Nationalisation under EFF Government will mean that legislation governing mineral resources will be amended to ensure that a minimum of 60% of existing Mines and mining activities are owned by the State, workers, and communities where mining activity occurs.
3) The EFF Government will nationalise mines in models that will be suitable for the continued productivity of the mines and mining in South Africa. Discontinuation of private ownership of mines will be located within an intention and programme to have democratic workers' ownership and control of mines and mining in South Africa.
4) The benefits of nationalising strategic sectors of the economy will include, but not be limited to, the following realities:
a. An increased fiscus for, and therefore more resources for, education, housing, healthcare, infrastructure development, safety and security and sustainable livelihoods for our people.
b. More jobs for our people because state-owned and controlled mines will increase the local beneficiation and industrialisation of mineral resources. This will, in turn, reduce the high levels of poverty consequent of joblessness.
c. More equitable spatial development because state-owned and controlled mines will invest in areas where mining occurs. .
d. Better salaries and working conditions in mines because state-owned mines will increase the mining wage and improve compliance with occupational health and safety standards.
e. Greater levels of economic and political sovereignty, as the state will be in control and ownership of strategic sectors of the economy, which produce mineral resources needed around the world.
f. The profits that the state will generate from ownership and control of Mines will gradually loosen the taxes on private individuals.
NATIONALISATION OF PRIVATE BANKS AND OTHER STRATEGIC SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY:
1) The EFF government will expropriate a minimum of 60% of designated categories of existing companies and ensure that these are democratically run with greater participation of workers.
2) The EFF Government will specifically discontinue private ownership of companies such as SASOL and Arcelor-Mittal Steel and provide them with concrete developmental mandates to contribute to the rapid sustainable industrial development of South Africa.
3) The EFF Government will nationalise all private banks through taking a minimum of 60% ownership and control of all the existing private banks.
4) The EFF Government will ensure that all the banks are given concrete developmental and job creation mandates, particularly in the provision of housing and small and medium enterprises development.
5) The EFF Government will ensure that all banks contribute to the education and skilling of the people of South Africa.
6) The EFF Government will ensure that all banks are democratically run and its employees are paid decent salaries.
NATIONALISATION OF THE RESERVE BANK AND CREATION OF A STATE OWNED BANK:
1) The EFF Government will ensure that the Reserve Bank is owned and controlled by the state and its policies are linked to industrial development.
2) The monetary policies pursued by the Reserve Bank should be aimed at job creating, not just inflation targeting.
3) The EFF Government will create a State Owned Bank, which will primarily help infant industries with developmental finance and support them to play an active role in various economic spheres of our society.
4) The State owned bank will also provide housing and vehicle finance which will be progressive and assist millions of South Africans to have access to decent housing and vehicles.
STATE OWNED ENTERPRISES:
1) The EFF Government will democratise the running of all existing State Owned Enterprises, instituting a model of greater worker ownership and control of the enterprises, instead of the boards that current run SOEs in a similar way private companies are run.
2) The EFF Government will retain total and majority control of all State Owned Enterprises, particularly ESKOM, TELKOM, SASOL, PETRO-SA, DENEL, SABC, POST OFFICE, SAA and all State owned enterprises under the oversight of various government departments, and Provincial governments.
3) The EFF Government will prescribe clear and concrete developmental mandates and objectives to all State Owned Enterprises, which will be gauged by their ability to deliver quality services and goods, the number of jobs they create, and the speed at which they expand the qualitative and quantitative capacity to provide better services.
4) The EFF Government will ensure that all State owned enterprises will be given a concrete mandate on the number of jobs they should create annually.
5) The EFF Government will ensure that all State owned enterprises will be given a concrete mandate on the numbers of students they should train every year.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICAN ECONOMY:
1) The EFF Government will play a leading role in the promotion of intra-African trade partnerships and relationships. This means the EFF government will direct the South African economy to purchase goods and services that can be produced in the African economy, whilst exporting its economic goods and services to countries in the African economy.
2) The EFF Government will establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund, whose primary role and focus will be massive investment in the industrial development of various parts of Africa.
3) The EFF Government will politically and ideologically promote Africa's economic self- reliance and Africa's industrial development and growth.
BUILDING PROGRESSIVE TRADE PARTNERSHIPS IN THE WORLD:
1. The EFF Government will build trade relations with countries which will appreciate that South Africa and Africa as a whole are not just suppliers of natural resources and products, but are a country and continent for industrial and technological development.
2. The EFF Government will build relations with countries and economies that will appreciate that South Africa is not a dumping ground for agricultural and industrial products.
3. The EFF Government will build relations with countries and economies which will be willing to invest in real and genuine industrial development and skills transfer to South African and African economies.
SECTION 7: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, COOPERATION AND SOLIDARITY:
The EFF appreciates that South Africa exists in a continental and global world order that have been bedevilled by many political, social and -economic challenges for centuries. EFF's progressive commitment is to build a better South Africa, Africa and global world where all people share equitably in the wealth and opportunities that collectively we are able to offer. Our aspirations for South Africa are aspirations for the African continent and the world and our international relations, co-operation and solidarity programme are founded on the principle that economic emancipation should be extended to all people across the globe. .
Within this context, EFF appreciates that there various political, social and economic challenges that confront the world today and as a progressive internationalist movement that is anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, we carry the obligation to work with progressive forces of change in the world, which are based on principles of solidarity and equal distribution of the world wealth. In this regard, these are key international relations, cooperation and solidarity programmes and actions we will pursue as EFF Government:
1) The EFF Government will work towards ending the global imperialist dominance of the West and will build relations with all progressive nations in Latin America, Asia and the African continent to establish a world order that is not dominated by the West, but is a world of equal political and economic relations.
2) The EFF Government will lead a progressive programme to build international solidarity politically, socially and economically amongst African states.
3) The EFF Government will lead a progressive programme to reject foreign, particularly Western domination of African economies.
4) The EFF Government will lead a progressive programme which will transform Africa from a passive exporter of natural resources into an economy that beneficiates and industrialises its raw materials.
5) The EFF Government will work towards the rejection of the Africa Command Centre, a military programme of the United States based in Botswana.
6) The EFF Government will work towards African isolation of Botswana, which has been home of an imperialist military base and push for progressive internal reforms within Botswana which should involve the people of Botswana.
7) The EFF Government will work towards building strong relationship with Lesotho, and ensure that the resources South Africa receives from Lesotho; particularly water benefits the people of Lesotho.
8) The EFF Government will within 5 years push for democratic political reforms in Swaziland, which will include political and economic isolation of the Monarchy until there are meaningful political changes and tolerance in that country.
9) The EFF Government will protect Zimbabwe from imperialist threats and sanctions and ensure that Zimbabwe is self-sustainable and returns to using its own independent currency within 5 years.
10) The EFF Government will implement incremental boycotts, divestment and sanctions against the apartheid state of Israel, as a concrete form of solidarity with the Palestinians, to end the illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories and state by Israel.
11) The EFF Government will build sustainable and balanced relations with all progressive forces in the world, and will relate with the growing economies, particularly China, Russia, Brazil, India and Latin American countries in a mutually beneficial way.
12) The EFF Government will work in solidarity with the people of Western Sahara to realise real political independence from colonial domination.
SECTION 8: SECTORAL AND SPECIFIC COMMITMENT MADE BY THE EFF IN THE MANIFESTO CONSULTATION PROCESS:
As part of its many consultations forums, the EFF government commits to do the following specific programmes in the years it will be in government:
1. The EFF Government will expand the University of Mpumalanga and Sol Plaatjie University in the Northern Cape to enrol a minimum of 10 000 students each by 2016 with decent accommodation and funding, and increase intake annually from thereon.
2. The EFF Government will eradicate all mud-schools in the Eastern Cape, and replace them with decent schools with all basic services provided.
3. The EFF Government will seek remuneration for all ex-mineworkers in the Eastern Cape and within the Asbestos Community Forum before the beginning of 2015.
4. The EFF Government will provide sustainable water supply to the people of Mothutlung in the North West Province, Giyani in Limpopo Province, and all other areas across the country that have no water.
5. The EFF Government will transform Sjwetla informal settlement in Alexandra, Johannesburg; Zenzele in the Westrand, Thembelihle in Johannesburg, and Mooiplaas in Tshwane into more dignified human settlement before the end of 2017.
6. The EFF Government will ensure that the Khoi and San languages are made official languages in the Constitution of South Africa.
7. The EFF Government will cancel all credit bureau creditors and present a new platform to start from the beginning on the basis of the New Credit Act.
8. The EFF Government will ensure that abalone (perlemoen) fishing in the Western Cape benefits the immediate communities.
9. The EFF Government will make Malamulele a viable economic territory through targeted local economic development programmes and give it the status of a local Municipality.
10. The EFF Government will make places such as Diepsloot and Scwetla a viable human settlement area with decent houses for all with community amenities.
11. The EFF Government will adequately resolve the Chieftaincy and Traditional leadership disputes in all provinces and ensure that the chiefs and kings recognised by the people are given their rightful positions.
12. The EFF acknowledges the following about the Khoi and San people: The ancestors of the Khoi and San people fought the first anti-colonial wars against white settlers in South Africa. Since 1652 white settlers violently plundered the livestock and stole the land of the Khoi and San people at gunpoint. They resisted colonialism forcibly. EFF acknowledges that Autshumao of the Goringkaikona tribe led the first war of resistance and was the first political prisoner imprisoned at Robben Island.
13. The EFF will strive for:
a. The economic freedom of the Khoi and San people.
b. The rights of Khoi and San children to be taught in their own language.
c. The renaming of significant landmarks in Western Cape to Khoi and San names.
SECTION 9: FINANCING THE EFF MANIFESTO:
The current government operates in a budget of R1 trillion per year, and distributes these amounts across government departments, and toward provincial and local spheres of government. The EFF will engage in radical redirection of government spending to prioritise services that will alleviate poverty, reduce inequalities and prepare South African citizens for a better future. The following will be part of increasing the budget and cost redirection measures:
1) Increase taxes from private corporations and companies to run a R2 trillion budget by 2017. Corporate and company taxes should amount to not less than 40% of the tax revenue, while all other taxes, including VAT are retained at the same levels they are in currently.
2) Introduce education and training taxes from all private corporations to a minimum of 2% of the total revenue of all corporations employing more than 25 people, and this will fund all education and training activities and programmes performed by the state.
3) Increase customs and excise duties & levies by 50% and this will lead to additional billions of Rands for additional usage and income.
4) Tighten exchange control to lock capital to invest in South Africa, and pass laws that all corporations doing business in South Africa should be listed in and pay majority of their taxes in South Africa.
5) The EFF Government will increase taxes on speculative capital inflows by 60%.
6) One Country-One Capital City: having one City as an administrative and capital city will cut billions of Rands used in the travelling and accommodation of Government Ministers and their support staff.
7) The EFF Government will cut the budget for the presidency by 60%, closing the official residences in Durban and Cape Town, and guaranteeing security only in one official residence.
8) The EFF Government will remove all presidential spousal support.
9) The EFF Government will end government corruption and incompetence, which currently cost the State more than R30 billion per year.
10) The EFF Government will abolish the Employment Tax Incentives Act and redirect all monies meant for this purposes to social welfare programmes.
11) The EFF Government will house all government departments in state-owned buildings and properties to stop the millions of Rands paid to private property owners.
12) The EFF Government will use the money generated from state-owned enterprises to invest in sustainable development.
CONCLUSION
These are genuine commitments which will bring about real economic transformation. These are commitment which will lift South Africa and its people to an elevated position in the world. These are commitments which will leave a long lasting, positive and meaningful legacy for generations to come. These are commitments which will inspire the entire African continent and nations across the world to pursue and implement real economic emancipation. Now is the time for economic freedom!
Issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, February 22 2014
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