The elections are around the corner (two months away!), and political parties are ramping up campaigning and dropping manifestos left, right and centre 🤭. That was deliberate, btw. Listen, we’re in for a treat this election season with a smorgasbord of parties to choose from.

We’ve written about how the Democratic Alliance, the African National Congress, and the Economic Freedom Fighters launched their manifestos.

Now, think of manifestos as road maps more than wish lists. These tell you what your favourite political party have planned for the future. For example, loadshedding is one of the most discussed issues in election manifestos. We know its devastating impact on the economy and how it’s generally dampened our collective mood over the years. All the election manifestos mention it and how they plan to fix it. 

So here at /explain/, we have decided to start a series where we break down the manifestos for you so that you know what you’re getting when you head to the polls. We’ll focus on the manifestos of the “Big Three” parties above and five key issues affecting South Africans, especially youth. 

Remember, this is a new series and will be updated as more parties release their manifestos. 

Education

  • The ruling party has set its sights on helping young people in South Africa, especially in education and jobs. They plan to give more chances to learners who still need to finish school by offering second chances through community and TVET colleges. They also aim to increase enrollment and graduation rates for university, TVET, and community education and training colleges, focusing on African, Coloured, and disabled students.
  • Education is one of the DA’s most extensive “bold solutions”: To improve education without costing more. They want to focus on literacy and numeracy in the early years of schooling, testing children’s skills at the end of Grade 3. They also aim to improve access to Grade R, promote STEM education, ensure schools have internet access, and defend the right to Mother Tongue Education. They want to strengthen support for learners with disabilities, improve teacher quality, and reduce dropout rates. They aim to make higher education more accessible and affordable, reforming NSFAS and introducing flexible repayment conditions. They also plan to collaborate with the private sector to fund skills development and invest in university research and innovation.
  • Would this even be an EFF manifesto without calling for free education? They introduce free education for all, including indigenous knowledge, sovereignty, and economic freedom, in the curriculum. They plan to make education compulsory and support parents in sending their children to school, providing sanitation and access to early childhood development programs. They plan to increase technology in teaching, improve infrastructure and resources, and ensure inclusivity and accessibility in schools. They want to provide free higher education until a first degree, cancel student debt, and expand postgraduate funding.

Loadshedding and Energy:

  • Uncle Cupcake said in the ANC manifesto that their plan to end loadshedding (electricity minister not enough, Cyril?) is to expand the transmission grid for more energy, including renewable sources. They also plan to install solar water geysers in working-class and poor households and develop gas, nuclear, and hydropower projects for increased energy generation.
  • Have you ever heard of a Prosumer? Well, these, according to the DA,  are individuals who both produce and consume electricity. Their focus (the DA, not the prosumer) is to improve the reliability of power supply by restructuring Eskom to establish an open electricity market. Where do the prosumers come in? They’ll form part of a flexible grid capable of handling generation from different sources.
  • The Red Berets say they will provide a secure electricity supply for 20 years by repairing existing infrastructure, adopting clean coal technologies, and reducing electricity demand from major users. They also plan to subsidise sustainable energy, invest in transmission capacity, and involve the private sector in electricity generation.

Employment

  • The ANC is on a mission to create job opportunities. How? Expanding public employment, supporting small enterprises, entrepreneurs, and cooperatives, and engaging the private sector in job creation. They also emphasise promoting and monitoring employment equity.
  • To create more jobs for young people, the DA government would introduce a Youth Employment Opportunity Certificate, reforming the labour market, facilitating skills development, and removing racial targets or quotas in employment equity.
  • The EFF has the ambitious goal of creating millions of jobs by establishing State-Owned Housing and Roads Companies, creating a state-owned security company, establishing special economic zones, and setting specific minimum wages for various sectors.

Crime

  • To address crime, the ANC wants to implement the Integrated Violence and Crime Prevention Strategy, modernise policing, combat various crimes, strengthen the justice system, ensure humane incarceration, and strengthen anti-money laundering efforts.
  • Proposing changes to policing, the DA wants a decentralised police service, implementing evidence-based policing, protecting whistleblowers, combatting gender-based violence, protecting citizens’ right to own firearms responsibly, and establishing an effective State Security Agency and National Prosecuting Authority.
  • The EFF wants to focus on law enforcement. They want to establish an annual day of joint operations between all law enforcement agencies, increase police visibility, and employ 100,000 police officers by 2026.

Healthcare:

  • Let’s get physical! The ANC wants to promote healthy lifestyles, implement the National Health Insurance, expand the Ideal Clinic programme, strengthen financial and supply chain management in public health institutions, collaborate on traditional medicine research, and leverage new technologies in healthcare.
  • Seeking to improve healthcare, the DA wants to create a public insurance system, balancing risks between health insurance plans, including post-retirement protection for pensioners, separating politicians from healthcare delivery, establishing an independent watchdog, allowing private institutions to train healthcare workers, ensuring access to prescription medications, and improving the Office of Health Standards Compliance.
  • The EFF aims to transform healthcare by strengthening primary healthcare, ensuring fair funding, focusing on prevention and health education, providing universal health coverage, improving emergency care, supporting healthcare workers, promoting African medicine, establishing secure health databases, upgrading hospitals, increasing healthcare practitioners, supporting local production of healthcare equipment, and addressing racism in healthcare.

So there you have the three biggest parties’ manifestos. What stood out for you? Are any of these parties’ solutions appealing to you?

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