As our democracy matures so do its voters, with more people opting to make their X based on how a party promises to solve a particular issue, rather than voting for the party itself.
When sifting through election manifestos the diversity of opinions held by South Africans is immediately obvious. Some manifestos offer detailed strategies on how objectives will be achieved. Others barely comprise a page, but offer voters the moon and stars without backing up pledges with any kind of strategy.
Despite the range of manifestos, the issues that they promise solutions to are largely the same.
Water and electricity, rates and taxes
Almost all parties have placed emphasis on the provision of basic services.
By 2010, the African National Congress promises access to clean running water and decent sanitation to all households. By 2012, it says, every household will have electricity, with universal provision of free basic services. By 2007, it says, no community will have to rely on the bucket system for sanitation.
The Independent Democrats has pledged to double the allocation of free basic water and electricity and to adopt a more compassionate approach to service-charge arrears, while pressing large-scale users to pay up. The party proposes subsidies for poor households.
The African Christian Democratic Party says it will reverse the culture of non-payment for services.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) says it is important to offer services to the poor. It believes the culture of non-payment must be addressed among those who can afford to pay for services. The party is also in favour of a unitary tax system and unitary service tariffs for specific categories of consumers.
The Democratic Alliance guarantees basic services for all and wants to introduce an “indigent policy” for people who earn less than R7 000 a year.
The Minority Front (MF) advocates for water and sanitation to be made available in all areas. The Pan Africanist Congress wants to end all plans for the privatisation of basic services, while the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) wants to fast-forward the provision of electricity to all households.
A vague pledge is made by the Inkatha Freedom Party, which says it aims “to ensure the delivery of basic services, such as water, electricity, roads, sanitation”, but offers no detail on how it plans to achieve this.
Security
The parties that deal with security in their manifestos call for more police. The role of the community in community policing is also debated.
The ACDP promises integrated pre-trial services, more police and courts, and to reverse legislation ” disarming law-abiding citizens”. The FF+ promises to work for just and fair law enforcement at a local level.
Meanwhile, the ANC offers a fuzzy promise to ensure that “fewer people will be victims of such causes of death as violent crime, road accidents” and that “serious and priority crimes will be reduced”.
The DA wants a larger police service and promises to record and release quarterly crime statistics for each municipality. The party says it will maximise the role of community policing forums, install more closed-circuit televisions and increase the visibility of security personnel.
New kid on the block Nadeco wants to promote more responsible community participation in crime fighting, and is investigating the idea of “restitution” to victims of crime.
Education
The ruling party wants to provide better environments for teaching and learning and to create skills and From Page 1
job opportunities. It does not, however, present a clear plan on how to achieve this.
Christian values are a strong feature of the ACDP’s campaign and the party promises to restore the independence of school bodies to set curricula, appoint staff and decide on its religious ethos.
The Azanian People’s Organisation believes educational planning and supervision should be the responsibility of the national government and that a realistic early childhood development programme should be implemented in all communities.
“Free and compulsory education, transforming local schools into centres of excellence”, are advocated by the PAC, but no strategy is given.
Housing
Housing has been a thorny issue for the ANC, but it promises that this time around quality houses will be offered in a closer proximity to economic opportunities. It also promises to tackle corruption in the administration of waiting lists.
The DA’s plan provides for community care facilities, emergency housing, shelters, transitional housing developments and community housing.
The ID promises to end evictions by the Red Ants and reduce the housing backlog as a matter of urgency, while the PAC wants to launch a community house-building programme to eliminate waiting lists.
In ACDP municipalities, people waiting for housing should be employed to build their own houses, the party suggests. Housing lists should be made public to improve transparency and a special court established to administer housing disputes.
Azapo wants to set up a housing corporation and encourage cooperatives. It also plans to offer rooms that can be rented to the homeless by municipal councils.
“Family friendly” houses with privacy is Nadeco’s focus, all while eliminating corruption in housing allocation.
Community services
Many parties highlight the plight of the aged as an issue in need of address. The FF+ in particular wants to work towards maintaining houses for the aged and to increase funding of museums, monuments and libraries. The ID wants to provide more clinics in under-serviced communities and Nadeco also proposes to build more old-age homes.
Azapo shares the belief that more clinics and hospitals should be established in rural communities. The PAC demands funding from the national government for councils to provide proper infrastructure for parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities.
Economic growth
The ANC promises to work with communities to train people, generate job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme and bring investment to areas with economic potential.
The DA wants to turn municipalities “into engines of economic growth that provide opportunities for citizens now and in the future”. The party plans to encourage entrepreneurship through business education and training partnerships, boost inner city regeneration and attract investment to competitive municipalities.
The ID believes in social enterprise, where communities are paid to deliver on social needs such as school nutrition. The PAC says it will create an environment for the rights of all to work and create wealth in local communities, but does not give a road map for creating jobs.
Infrastructure
Over the next five years the ANC government promises to invest more than R400-billion in infrastructure to create jobs and fight poverty, build roads, rail networks, dams, electrical plants and communication infrastructure.
The DA plans to revive public parks that have been poorly maintained and create “premier” city centres in which to live, learn, do business and be entertained.
The ACDP promises to “prioritise basic infrastructure” by focusing on building new roads, upgrading old ones and tarring rural roads.
Management
The ANC promises it will strengthen popular participation by making ward committees more effective, with no place for “laziness, arrogance and corruption”.
The DA is against the political selection of ward committees and wants interest sectors such as ratepayer groups, school governing bodies, faith communities and businesses to choose their own representatives.
The ID promises to create a support system for municipalities to improve their ability to deliver services, while also depoliticising local structures and appointments, particularly key positions that require the skills and capacity to drive delivery.
“People must be appointed and promoted on merit instead of political patronage,” the party says.
Echoing this sentiment, the MF wants municipalities to be managed without party influence and pledges to work with any party that holds the majority on local authorities. Nadeco also calls for the depoliticising of municipal administrations.
The ACDP wants to empower ward committees and sub-councils with authority to take financial decisions and deliver services to local communities at local level.
Megacities are not the flavour of the month at the FF+, which wants to bring local government close to communities. The party stresses that merit will determine appointments in its municipalities. Ward committees will be used to acquire input from the community, it says.
Azapo calls for the abolition of provinces and more centralised power. In contrast, the PAC believes in a strong local government, making its own decisions and calls for self-governing communities. Like the ANC, the PAC puts emphasis on gender by promising that 50% of its councillors would be women.
Capacity building
The ANC highlights its work through Project Consolidate, in which it assists municipalities that need hands-on support. The party promises to provide more resources and trained personnel in local government.
The ACDP says it will appoint honest staff and end lavish launches and parties for councils, while the ID wants to employ municipal managers with extensive experience, training and management competencies.
The ID wants to change the national funding formula to ensure municipalities have the funds to implement their mandates.
Corrupt and non-performing officials
After the bad press around corrupt local governments, most parties include measures for dealing with corruption in their manifestos.
The ANC, for one, places considerable stress on its ability to enforce discipline on officials in public office and says all ANC councillors will be required to make an honesty pledge.
The DA promises to ensure good management by strengthening independent accountability procedures and pressing for the creation of “a municipal ombudsman” for local government, an idea that is supported by Nadeco.
The FF+ promises its councillors will fulfil a watchdog function to ensure corruption does not go unpunished, while the IFP says it will establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure councillors abide by their honesty pledge.
The PAC says it believes that councillors are not elected to run services alone, but are expected to become servants and champions of the community.
Most parties promise to review tender regulations, put checks and balances in place, and ensure that the process is fair and accessible to all.