Bowing to neither left nor right, the IFP stands for both aspiration and compassion, writes Mangosuthu Buthelezi
The currency of politics, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) believes, is public service. It’s about working with people to help deliver the things they value and desire. The public policy programme of any party is the key to what that party would do in government.
But how do we determine what the people’s needs are? And how does a progressive party such as the IFP meet these needs?
The 2009 election will be a watershed moment in our country’s teenage democracy. The IFP’s programme deals with the questions: what are the country’s needs, and how should we go about addressing them?
These range from combating the HIV/Aids pandemic, fighting rampant crime and the provision of adequate healthcare and welfare grants to dealing with the crisis in education.
We are quite clear about what kind of country we would like South Africa to be. We want a thriving economy that creates the wealth to deliver rising living standards and better public services to all. We want a caring society that gives people the freedom to live the lives they want, but which supports families and protects the vulnerable. We support measures such as the Basic Income Grant (BIG) and the resuscitation of rural agriculture.
And we want to be part of a strong, self-confident and outward-looking country; a country with a good reputation in the region and the wider world; a country we can be proud of.
Throughout 2008, we have carried out an evaluation of the magnitude and nature of the challenges facing South Africa by listening directly, in the form of public consultations, to the South African people.
We view individuals, families, communities, voluntary organisations, faith groups and businesses as the foundation of a modern, diverse, cosmopolitan country.
The IFP stands for aspiration and compassion in equal measure, breaking out of the old left-versus-right mould. No one should be left behind. This is the approach we take to education policy, especially for the poor.
In essence our approach is to engage citizens, strengthen democracy and deliver effective services, and pursue them as unified policies.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, MP, is the president of the IFP