ANC manifesto: No drastic change
by Liezel de Lange and Abigail Isaacs
2009-01-12 08:22
East London - After years of head-butting with the ANC under the leadership of former president Thabo Mbeki, Cosatu and the SACP were the first to laud the ruling party's election manifesto this weekend.
"Cosatu is proud to be in alliance with the ANC and will do everything in its power to canvas votes for the party," said Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu's chief secretary, to more than 80 000 ANC supporters.
"The election manifesto is absolutely in the interest of the working class," said Blade Nzimande, general secretary of the SACP.
But Adam Habib, political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, is not convinced, and thinks the hype is part of the ANC's rhetoric to show that it has broken with the party as it was under Mbeki.
"There isn't a drastic change, especially as far as economic policy is concerned, and the ANC is building on what was already started by Mbeki and his government in 2004-2005," he said.
Increased spending
Increased government spending and greater government involvement in the economy are among the key components of the manifesto.
Party leaders emphasised throughout that the country could afford the increased spending, but conceded that the international financial crisis brought specific challenges.
"Now there's room to talk about policy and theory thanks to the international acknowledgement that policies such as neoliberalism and deregulation have failed. It is also now being acknowledged that governments must play a key role in the economy."
Among the most important plans are a government-led industrial plan, with the emphasis on job creation, and "sustainable macro-economic, trade and labour policy".
Although social spending on education, health, welfare allowances and housing, among others, will be increased significantly, the ANC has scaled down its earlier ambitions.
For example, no mention was made of a basic income allowance or an allowance for young job seekers. The party has apparently decided it would be too expensive and rather wants to spend the money on job creation.
Specific targets
One of the proposals at the Polokwane congress was that the poor should get free education up to tertiary level, but the manifesto only makes provision for free education at 60% of schools.
Among the more concrete promises is the fact that the ANC wants to halve HIV infections in the next five years. The ruling party also wants to increase support and treatment of people with HIV/Aids to 80%.
The promise indicates a tendency to commit the party to specific targets, as opposed to the previous manifesto's more general promises.
The manifesto also mentions the long-awaited reorganisation of the Cabinet, and ministries for women and planning are a possibility.
The party did not commit itself to a woman president, but half of the Cabinet, MPs and MPLs will be women.