Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Pieter Groenewald has called on South Africans to “take action” against the governing ANC and remove the party from power in May by voting for the opposition multi-party coalition.
Addressing the FF+ manifesto launch in Pretoria on Saturday, Groenewald said the party had a plan to stop the “plunder” of South Africa and to rebuild the economy.
He said the ANC had driven South Africa to “the edge of ruin and bankruptcy” and that the time had come to “pick up the broken pieces and start rebuilding.”
The ANC’s economic policies, including affirmative action and black economic empowerment, were at the centre of South Africa’s demise, and would be reversed should a multi-party government involving the FF+ come to power after the national and provincial elections on 29 May.
BEE had failed the majority of South Africans and had only benefited the ANC.
“It is only the politically connected people who get the benefits of BEE. The ANC created a new apartheid in South Africa, an apartheid of those who are politically connected…,” he said.
The FF+ would also introduce a fiscal commission to control government spending, and would spearhead a return to a market driven, free market economy, which would create the conditions for greater job creation and economic development.
Both personal and company taxes would be reduced through the reduction in the size of the central government, resulting in it “playing a lesser role in citizen’s lives”.
The FF+ committed to “restoring local government” while at the same time promoting “independent communities” as building blocks of a broader society.
The party also undertook to promote the right of “self-determination” of communities as the “cement” of society, while abolishing legislation that “discriminates based on skin colour”.
The FF+ is a member of the multi-party charter for South Africa, the opposition coalition which hopes to remove the ANC from office and which intends to replace it at national and provincial level.
Groenewald said the coalition taking office at provincial level would stop the “decay” of South Africa.
Other changes proposed by the FF+ in its manifesto include the establishment of a system of parent and community driven mother tongue education and initiatives to “raise the standard” of education.
An FF+ government would reduce the powers of unions, particularly in education, where the party would abolish trade unions completely due to the critical nature of the service and replace them with a liaison system.
Groenewald said the The FF+ would oppose the introduction of a National Health Insurance (NHI) as it would “only exacerbate the crisis” in the health sector.
“The NHI has to be opposed, even if the matter has to go to the constitutional court,” he said.
The FF+ would decentralise government – and power – and reinstate the small municipalities which have been amalgamated since 1994 in order to give residents a more direct say in the governance of where they live.
The party also wants improved border control and security and says that it will give preference to South Africans both in terms of access to small business opportunities and in employment.
Groenewald said the ANC had undermined the criminal justice system by making political appointments, a situation a FF+ government would change by professionalising the service, reintroducing specialist units and appointing a commissioner who had policing experience.
The party also wants lower personal and company taxes and a fiscal commission to oversee public spending
