Ferial Haffajee
The Pan Africanist Congress will give the death penalty the chop but will sever the lesser limbs of criminals. If it assumes power after the elections, the party will also ban abortion, rescind anti-smoking legislation, scrap national debt and the provinces.
The PAC pipped other parties to the post when it released its election manifesto on Thursday. The cheeky manifesto refers to the PAC as a government-in-waiting.
PAC leader Bishop Stanley Mogoba could not elaborate on the somewhat Islamic form of punishment he proposes. But he declared it part of a “war on criminals … we’re not just talking about chopping limbs”.
He said that despite his public depiction as a blood-soaked priest, his views have won him great support.
The PAC also pledged to control firearms, install regional police headquarters in each of the four administrative regions which will replace the nine provinces and crack down on graft and absenteeism in the police.
A new and more chic party went on show yesterday. Its manifesto launch was held at the palatial Westcliff hotel in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs.
The slogan “One settler, one bullet” changed to “One family, one plot” and the party’s land plan has also changed since its early advocacy of full-scale nationalisation.
Should it win, the party wants to repeal the protective property clause in the Constitution. This will be replaced by a clause declaring that land cannot be owned by individuals but remains the property of the nation, held in trust by the state.
The PAC would lease land to individuals and businesses. Consequently, it will expropriate land. “Compensation will be an exceptional step,” said its national organiser, Phillip Nkosana.
The PAC manifesto is schizophrenic on property. It will protect intellectual property and has vowed to fine property- owners who allow their premises to be used to manufacture, store or sell knock-offs (counterfeit goods). Despite its Pan- Africanist orientation, the manifesto presented no foreign policy on peacemaking and economic regeneration on the continent.
Mogoba declared his party the government-in- waiting. “We have been,” he said, “the shadow government for the past five years.”
In order to become the government, the PAC has much ground to cover. Only 243 000 voters cast their ballots for the party in 1994 – a poll result of 1,25%. In reality, the party appears to want to improve its opposition status.
While the politician in Mogoba declared that it wanted 100 seats (a simple majority), he also added, “We want nothing less than 10%.”