Health services, industrial policy, rural development, education and employment will be key policies addressed in the African National Congress (ANC) manifesto when it is released on January 10 in East London.
This is according to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, who addressed journalists and editors at a breakfast in Durban on Thursday.
Mantashe said that the ANC wanted to continue governing, and ”when you go to the electorate you must be able to talk about practical implementation [of policies]”.
He said that the global financial crisis had ”a different spin” on the country and would have an impact on the issues and policies raised in the party’s yet-to-be released manifesto.
”In South Africa we focused on macro policies and didn’t pay attention to the real economy,” he said.
The ANC’s industrial policy would focus on sectors that needed support and on how to manage sectors that were declining so that the impact of their decline could be softened.
Along with the industrial policy, Mantashe said the manifesto would focus on the creation of ”decent work”.
”If you are underemployed, you are still a burden to your family,” he said, adding that the quality of education needed to be improved because it ”breaks poverty at the household level”.
The ANC would also aim to reach a target that 60% of the country’s schools should be no-fee schools.
He said that the ANC had achieved its promise of greater access to education during the past 14 years, with 98% of children between the ages of seven and 15 years attending school.
Mantashe said that while the accessibility had improved, the focus would now move to the quality of education.
He said that while the aim of the ANC was to see that 30% of the land had changed hands by 2014, he said it had been noted that this year South Africa had become a net food importer.
He said the ANC had identified land redistribution as a priority because the party had ”realised the land is lying idle”.
Rural people needed to be encouraged to use their land productively.
Mantashe said that land redistribution needed ”to be coupled with support for the new owners”.
”If you just change land [ownership] it will just become a numbers game.”
On the topic of health, he said: ”You cannot find fault in the policies, but we are stepping up the implementation.”
He said that the ANC would want to implement the national health insurance scheme within the next five years.
”The quality of healthcare needs a lot of attention,” said Mantashe.
He added that the ANC’s policies, that would be in its manifesto, could be funded by the fiscus. — Sapa