The ANC's manifesto: pro-poverty, not pro-poor

One of the Democratic Alliance's major challenges is to explain why our vision of an "open, opportunity society" is the best chance South Africa has of improving the lives of all our citizens, particularly the poor. The vast majority of South Africans are not interested in political theory or comparative politics. Not even the vivid example of Zimbabwe - the ultimate closed, crony society right on our doorstep - is sufficient to make the point. It will take a long time for South Africans to understand that elections are not about race and history. They are about learning from the past to make the right policy choices for our country's future.

We are at that point in the election cycle where parties release their manifestos. Most voters never read a manifesto. Some journalists do, and their analysis guides the small percentage of voters who read their articles in newspapers.

Last Saturday, the ANC unveiled its 2009 election manifesto (see here). Described by some commentators as "pro-poor" and "pro-worker", the manifesto is in fact pro-poverty and pro-unemployment. If it is implemented, job opportunities will be lost; the poor will become poorer; and the poverty net will be widened.

That is because the manifesto is underpinned by the ANC's vision of a closed, crony society. It contains few proposals to create opportunity, which is the most effective weapon in the fight against poverty. Instead, the ANC's manifesto promises to concentrate more power in the hands of a so-called "developmental state". But, under the ANC, the state itself has become the enemy of opportunity in two ways.

Firstly, the state has been turned into a closed, patronage-based system - used to enrich a cabal within the ruling party and reward its cronies through various forms of "deployment". Loyal ANC cadres control all state institutions and serve the interests of a party faction rather than all the people. The inevitable result of this downward spiral into centralisation, cronyism and corruption is the criminalisation of the state and the cannibalisation of opportunity.

In fact, the ANC's closed, patronage-based system extends beyond the state. The ANC now deploys its cadres to business. These cadres ensure that they and their cronies benefit from state tenders as well as black economic empowerment deals in the private sector which they help to facilitate. So even in the private sector - which should be the main driver of economic growth and creator of opportunity - the principle of opportunity for all (supported by the DA) is giving way to the ANC's principle of opportunism for some.

Secondly, many state institutions are dysfunctional. They are split into ANC factions and used to wage internal political battles. Moreover, as a result of ANC policies which subordinate race to merit instead of marrying the two, state institutions are not backed by a highly efficient, highly skilled and well trained bureaucracy. Many public servants are handpicked by ANC cronies under the guise of affirmative action.

If the ANC was serious about making the state functional (let alone "developmental") then the ruling party would abandon its policy of cadre deployment and make appointment to public service dependent on "what you know," not "who you know". Predictably, the ANC's manifesto makes no such pledges: that would undermine the whole basis of its closed, patronage system.

Currently, the state can barely keep the lights burning or get matric results to learners on time. Yet the ANC's manifesto envisages an even more interventionist role for the state. In the developmental state framework, the government will not only be in charge of service delivery, infrastructure investment and economic management, but will also act as fuel provider, pension fund administrator, steel maker, mine operator banker, and farmer.  It will determine industrial strategy, when the Department of Trade and Industry is known as the "department where good ideas go to die". Now it wants to pick the "winners" in the rest of the economy.

The manifesto promises to introduce a raft of interventionist measures to "promote food security as a way to lessen our dependence on food imports". At the same time, it undertakes to "intensify" the poorly managed land reform programme that has led to South Africa becoming a net importer of food.

Such ironies seem to be lost on the drafters of the manifesto. They have also failed to appreciate that any additional burdens imposed upon the state by the ANC's "developmental" agenda will make it even harder for the state to perform its core functions of protecting citizens against crime and providing them with quality education and healthcare.

Being safe, emerging from school literate and numerate, and enjoying good health are all prerequisites to accessing opportunity. Safety, education and health are the tools people need to exercise their freedom, take responsibility to use their opportunities, and work hard to develop their full potential.

Yet the ANC's manifesto offers nothing new in the way of specific plans to fight crime and deliver quality education and healthcare.

The DA's manifesto, by contrast - which we will launch next month - is based on a package of carefully costed and mutually reinforcing policies that set out practical steps to attain our vision of an open, opportunity society for all. It seeks not only to alleviate poverty through an appropriate social safety net of state grants, but to reduce poverty by expanding opportunity.

Creating opportunity is the focus of all our policies, because we believe that the only way to eradicate poverty is by expanding opportunity through sustained job-creating economic growth and a significantly improved education system. We also believe that individuals have the responsibility to use their opportunities to improve their lives and become the best they can be.

We have clear policy alternatives designed to achieve this. Our economic policy promotes low inflation, a minimal budget deficit, lower taxation, a deregulated labour market, enterprise zones, and opportunity vouchers. We also have a range of innovative proposals. For example, to assist new entrants into the labour market, we will provide all grade-12 school leavers with a wage subsidy of R3600 to subsidise employment for 12 months.

Our education policy aims to improve the quality of education and develop skills so that South Africans can use the opportunities of an expanding, knowledge-based economy. To improve the quality of education, we will set performance targets for teachers and schools, and reward good performance. We will focus on making dysfunctional schools work better by establishing task teams and implementing a mentoring programme. To ensure that pupils from poor families have access to quality education, we will introduce a per-child pre-school state subsidy (weighted according to parental income) and encourage a national network of community-based early childhood education centres.

The ANC's manifesto offers no concrete proposals on job-creation. Instead it makes vague promises about creating "decent" jobs and "sustainable livelihoods". In fact, the manifesto threatens to "introduce laws to regulate contract work, subcontracting and outsourcing". That is counter-productive: rigid labour laws disincline employers to hire new workers, and they make it harder for job-seekers to enter the labour market.

The ANC's manifesto claims that "education is at the centre of our efforts", but is likewise vague about how it intends improving the quality of education.

These silences speak volumes: they reveal that the ANC has no real interest in extending opportunity to all. In fact, the ruling party's pro-poor rhetoric in its manifesto masks a pro-poverty agenda for governance after the 2009 election.

Over the next few months, as we approach the polling date, the DA will make opportunity the centre of our election campaign, because without access to opportunity, more and more South Africans will become trapped in poverty.  A pro-opportunity policy is really the only viable way to empower the poor in our country and reduce (rather than merely alleviate) poverty. This is what the DA means by being "pro-poor".

This article by Helen Zille first appeared in SA Today, the online weekly newsletter of the leader of the Democratic Alliance, January 16 2009