RISE MZANSI

THE PEOPLE’S MANIFESTO

20 January 2024

FOREWORD

This year South Africans will decide whether they want this government to continue, or to vote for a new one. We believe that the time has come to elect a new government.

We believe the governing ANC has run out of ideas, goodwill and steam. Some of the tasks of governing, such as running a hospital or a state company properly, do not need a new idea. They need people who will choose to lead ethically and professionally for the common good.

A great many of our problems are caused by a failure to get the basics right, to do things for the common good, to take care of government finances, or to appoint competent people to important roles. In such an environment, new ideas become useless when the same people of bad faith and intentions govern.

The failure of leadership and governance is why we devote so much attention to the theme of leadership in this Manifesto. Societies that progress and uplift their people do so because they have good leaders and systems, not just great ideas. It is also nearly impossible to produce good, implementable ideas when there is no leadership that can convert those ideas into reality.

Poor leadership has also delayed, at great cost, our shared dream of becoming an equal, non-racial society. Non-racialism demands that we seek to end discrimination and the structural inequalities that are the outcome of our past. The goal of ending discrimination is a shared one.

Therefore you will also note that there are several instances where we specifically use race, gender and other classifications for policy interventions. This is absolutely necessary in order to measure and manage the specific inequalities that result from past and ongoing discrimination. It must not be construed to mean that anyone who does not belong to that racial or gender group will have less rights or basic entitlements.

On the contrary, our goal is to ensure that all South Africans have access to the same rights, entitlements and opportunities to create a united, equal and prosperous society.

This People’s Manifesto will be followed by the publication of the names of candidates who represent South Africa in all its facets, have a track record, skills and experience. Some are young, others are not, but they all share a deep sense of patriotism that compels them to take on the responsibility of working hard to ensure that parliament and government adopt what is set out in this manifesto.

The National Leadership Collective (NLC) of RISE Mzansi wishes to express its deepest gratitude to the thousands of people who attended our community meetings and made their voices heard. This People’s Manifesto would not be possible without their contributions.

Their personal testimonies of life under this government, and what a new politics, government, communities and life should look like helped to shape our own views profoundly.

In this People’s Manifesto we demonstrate why our approach to politics, policymaking and leadership is what South Africa needs in this time of crisis.

Let us go and get the government we deserve.

Songezo Zibi

National Leader: RISE Mzansi

SOUTH AFRICA’S CONSTITUTION IS THE CENTRAL PILLAR OF OUR VALUES

FREEDOM

South Africans fought hard and paid dearly for political freedom. However, freedom is more than the right to vote.

True freedom means being free from all forms of oppression. It also means freedom to pursue happiness and prosperity within a system that is based on a human rights culture.

EQUALITY

To us, this value is more than just equality before the law and all public and private institutions.

It is also about having a political and social contract that values equal access to opportunity regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, income or social status.

INTEGRITY

Democratic leadership is based on trust and a higher sense of public responsibility.

As citizens we must be responsible to one another, to hold each other accountable in building the society we want to live in.

SOLIDARITY

Solidarity is a commitment to be a society that leaves no one behind. A society that is willing to accept responsibility for the welfare of others.

To use public resources and institutions to help those who need a hand, to get back on their feet so they can contribute meaningfully to society.

JUSTICE

Justice means creating a society that recognises our past, taking active and appropriate steps to ensure that all South Africans have the necessary means to build a meaningful and prosperous life.

Justice is also about fairness, which means recognising the special disadvantages that many South Africans have and taking purposeful steps to ensure that nobody is left behind.

A RISER’S OATH

SOUTH AFRICA’S CONSTITUTION IS THE CENTRAL PILLAR OF OUR VALUES

NATIONAL

We are a capable, solution-oriented organisation. We value equality, people centricity and practice listening daily.

PROVINCIAL

We are diverse and inclusive, we leave no one behind. We collaborate with active citizens from all walks of life and hold ourselves accountable to our national vision and mission.

We are building a social community structure, that is accessible, trustworthy and reliable. We act in small ways every day, to intentionally and sustainably improve the lot of ordinary South Africans.

INDIVIDUAL

I am empathetic to my fellow South Africans and would like to help work towards the South Africa we all deserve.

FREEDOM, SOLIDARITY, EQUALITY, JUSTICE, INTEGRITY

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INTRODUCTION

South Africa’s deep crisis is felt every day by all South Africans. At a most basic level, there are more cases of food insecurity and hunger today than there were in 1994, at the dawn of freedom. There are entire communities without clean drinking water, who must draw it from dams which are also polluted.

Nothing calls for urgent action more than having neither food nor water, yet there are millions of South Africans without these basic needs. The reasons are many but the most important is poor, unethical and uncaring leadership. Although our country does not have unlimited resources, there have been enough over the years to ensure that this abuse of people’s basic rights is a thing of the past.

We live in what is called a kakistocracy, defined as “a government by the least suitable and capable citizens of a state”. We have a leadership that cares more about its privileged position and power than it does about people, and appoints unsuitable people to critical posts purely for its own preservation.

The only way out of a crisis of leadership is an election to replace the unsuitable, incapable and uncaring leaders with new, ethical and capable leaders. The next national and provincial elections take place in a few months’ time, and that is why RISE Mzansi has from the beginning said 2024 Is Our 1994.

That is the decisive step most of the South African people took in 1994. They unseated the apartheid government and ushered in a new leadership to guide society in its efforts to build a caring and prosperous democratic state whose citizens could enjoy all fundamental human rights.

Those rights are being eroded to the point where many citizens only exist in law but not in practice or reality. This is a new and more urgent struggle for survival. While apartheid repression was a crime, starving people and depriving them of water is also a crime.

Watching and doing nothing while young people lose hope, drop out of school, fall into substance abuse, die young or end up in prison is a crime.

Stealing public money in collaboration with corrupt business sector friends and living luxurious, sheltered lives while people die of

hunger is the order of the day, and citizens live in fear of violent crime in their own homes. Urgent political accountability is needed.

This People’s Manifesto is an outcome of almost a year of listening and discussion with hundreds of communities across our land.

It responds to the generational call of the People’s Declaration, made at Constitution Hill on October 8th, 2023. It is a blueprint for fundamental change, from choosing the right leaders to make the right political decisions, to setting out priorities that deal effectively with the most pressing problems that define our current crisis.

The People’s Manifesto departs from the ineffective political norm of seeing problems in isolation when they are systemic and manifest across different sectors and points of impact.

Based on hundreds of conversations with communities across South Africa, and the People’s Convention held in October 2023, we outline five priority themes.

These are:

- Priority one: Leadership and Governance and Implementation

- Priority two: Safety and the Rule of Law

- Priority three: Economy and Jobs

- Priority four: Individual, Family and Community Well-being

- Priority five: The Climate Crisis

In addition to these five priority themes, there are three policy areas

which we highlight our positions on:

- Managing immigration

- Foreign policy

- Centring people with disabilities

PRIORITY THEME 1

LEADERSHIP, GOVERNANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION

Our crisis calls for urgency in policymaking, decision-making and implementation. Therefore South Africa needs capable leaders

and people in all spheres of government, and branches of the State (Parliament, Government and Judiciary). [Spheres are “national, provincial and local government. Branches are “Parliament, Government and Judiciary”].

Secondly, the reason even good representatives ultimately become bad is that our political system encourages unaccountability. It places too much faith in the inherent goodness of political parties and politicians instead of systems and rules that keep them in check, and empower the people to do the same.

As a result of this deficiency, citizens have to approach the courts to get accountability, with money they do not have. Democracy is meaningless if there are no effective political instruments for accountability.

Thirdly, political promises mean nothing without the capacity to implement them through a capable cabinet and a professional civil service that do not tolerate corruption. Therefore:

Priority 1: We will appoint capable, ethical leaders in government to ensure excellence becomes standard.

We will end the culture of cadre deployment so that people in positions of public responsibility are highly skilled, capable and ethical. We will take further reform actions to ensure efficient delivery of government services, such as:

- Reforming Cabinet by streamlining the functions of ministries, and then reducing its size. The size of Cabinet has increased as the ANC has run out of ideas, and relied on setting up a ministry for every crisis it created, such as a ministry for small business or electricity. We will redesign Cabinet, streamline its functions and reduce its size. Ministers will be compelled to report to relevant Parliament committees on a quarterly basis.

- Reviewing presidential and ministerial authority over key appointments: To replace cadre deployment, we will establish a competitive, transparent, and accountable selection and appointment process for key leadership positions, ensuring that the “fit and proper” requirement is upheld. For example, the heads of the SA Police Service, National Prosecuting Authority, SA Revenue Service and selected directors-general and provincial equivalents must all be appointed on merit through a public final interview process.

- Appointing SOE boards on merit and expertise, not political loyalty. Such competent boards will be left alone to appoint CEOs on the same basis. Ministers will no longer have the power to overrule boards because of political considerations.

We will review outdated structures in line with Cabinet restructuring, initiating a modernisation programme.

This will include:

- Fixing the public procurement system

• We see public sector procurement as an economic lever that must balance value for money and advancing economic inclusion and justice. We will stop the corrupt abuse of BEE by politically connected individuals and businesses that overcharge taxpayers to pay kickbacks and enrich themselves. Instead, we will use public procurement to advance entrepreneurship and innovation, especially by economically marginalised groups.

• We will create a simplified, transparent public procurement system that uses digital technology, including blockchain, to capture, track and audit all major procurement. Transgressors will be punished swiftly. Political office-bearers will play no role in procurement except oversight to ensure compliance with government policy.

- Prosecuting corruption vigorously. RISE Mzansi will create an independent and well-resourced anti-corruption agency to investigate and facilitate criminal prosecution of corruption, and further resource the SA Police Service and NPA commercial crime divisions. To successfully prosecute and stop corruption, RISE Mzansi will install new, professional and ethical leadership across the security and criminal justice clusters.

- Providing easy access to government information and protecting whistle blowers. RISE Mzansi will make the disclosure of records of decision on major procurement decisions public unless there is a specific, lawful reason not to do so, such as compromising the fight against organised crime or security in general. A RISE Mzansi government will also protect and incentivise whistle-blowers. Public access to government information is key to political accountability.

Priority 2: The People Must Govern – Political Reforms

Good government is not possible if the people are not empowered to provide an additional and effective layer of political oversight. This necessitates political reforms.

- Implement a Constituency-Based Electoral System: RISE Mzansi proposes a mixed open party-list, proportional representation, and constituency-based electoral system to establish an electoral system that has a direct link between citizens and their MPs. People cannot make an informed voting choice or hold MPs accountable if they don’t know who will represent their constituency. 75% of MPs must be elected by constituencies, with right of recall if such MPs neglect their duties or do not consult constituencies on an ongoing basis.

- Expand Public Participation: We will expand public participation in parliamentary oversight and accountability processes, especially by young people. This involves compulsory government transparency through disclosure of government information (designated records of decision); publication of such information in simple language and graphics and on popular platforms; and enabling citizens to use digital platforms to record their views and objections.

- Strengthen Independent Institutions: RISE Mzansi will reinforce the effectiveness of Chapter 9 institutions like the Public Protector and the Auditor-General by increasing their funding allocation, thereby allowing them to investigate and report on executive actions so that citizens can hold their government accountable.

- Ban blue light brigades: RISE Mzansi will put an end to blue light brigades and their bullying behaviour. Police convoys which command right of way on our roads should be reserved for the President, Deputy President and visiting heads of state.

Priority 3: Overhaul the culture, management and operations of government to deliver high-quality, accessible public services

Effective oversight: RISE Mzansi MPs and MPLs will bring diverse professional expertise and general experience that will hold government authorities to account on behalf of citizens. We will ensure public institutions have effective strategies to deliver on their mandates; have annual performance plans which reflect citizens’ service requirements; and that they use public money wisely, with zero tolerance for corruption.

A culture of excellence: RISE Mzansi leaders of public entities will lead by example, driving not only delivery through professionalism, but cultural transformation at the organisations they lead. Public servants must represent national values and desire measurable outcomes for citizens as the outcome of the duty of care.

Capable management: South Africa has highly capable, talented professionals across different sectors of society. RISE Mzansi will draw this talent into government regardless of political views or affiliation. Only professionalism, skills, experience and willingess to serve the public will be considered.

Improve the quality of judicial and quasi-judicial officers. The quality of magistrates, judges and other dispute presiding officers has been deteriorating for years. This deprives people of access to fair and swift justice. We will work with the Office of the Chief Justice to ensure that a skills and quality assessment is undertaken, with appropriate interventions to ensure in-service upskilling, improved selection standards and ongoing in-service assessements. Chronic underperformance will not be tolerated, and presiding officers who fail to meet agreed standards will be exited from service.

Digital government: RISE Mzansi will expand the digitisation of public services so they can be delivered securely through various physical and digital channels. We will work to ensure that over time everyone has access to a digital identity which will enable secure transactions, so that people can access most government services from their phone or computer, rather than going to wait in line at a government office. Digitising government can reduce costs and waiting times, while increasing access, convenience and security of public services and eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles for citizens.

PRIORITY THEME 2

KEEPING PEOPLE SAFE AND RESTORING THE RULE OF LAW

The most important responsibility of any government is to keep people safe. A RISE Mzansi Government will tackle South Africa’s violent crime and general culture of violence; and build a public culture that values and protects life.

We will work to that ensure South Africans are safe in their homes and communities. At the core of our efforts will be building a culture of respect for the law and respect for human life and boundaries around people’s bodies.

Because we do not see crime in isolation, we will focus on preventing crime by addressing the socio-economic conditions in which people turn to criminal and anti-social behaviour.

The success of our safety approach also relies on other policy areas. Crime prevention is linked to: creating access to economic opportunities; educating, training and empowering our youth; ensuring access to arts, culture, sports and recreation; and providing access to mental health care.

That said, policing, investigation and prosecution remain critical to fighting crime.

Therefore: We will professionalise and equip the police to improve their ability to deter and investigate crime. We will ensure the senior leadership of the police is ethical and capable, to reverse decades of politicisation. We will appoint a special panel of experts to audit the integrity and competence of the entire senior leadership of the South African Police Service, followed by the transparent selection and appointment of leaders and managers who are well qualified, and are fit and proper.

We will improve the effectiveness of policing to detect crimes, arrest criminals and build prosecutable cases. This will include:

- Shifting towards proactive evidence and intelligence-based policing, and away from the current post-event reaction model;

- Directing police resources towards communities with the highest crime incidences;

- Employing and training more detectives and forensic specialists;

- Greater community involvement in crime intelligence gathering and crime prevention;

- Strengthening the independence and capacity of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and establish specialised courts (or fast track the judicial process) for police accused of breaking the law;

- Modernising the Criminal Justice System with an integrated IT database to increase efficiency, accountability and transparency, and to eliminate docket tampering and fraud.

We will resource the police and courts to successfully prosecute priority crimes: violence such as murder, attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm; GBV and crimes against children; organised crime; hate crimes; kidnapping and extortion; possession of illegal guns; theft and sabotage of public infrastructure; and public corruption.

Doing so requires strengthening and resourcing existing institutions, such as the National Prosecuting Authority, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the courts. We need more courts, more prosecutors and better qualified and capable magistrates. We will do this so that the system can successfully prosecute priority crimes and state capture perpetrators, and so that the SIU can seize ill-gotten assets and return these to the state.

RISE Mzansi calls for special courts to be established to provide additional judicial capacity to prosecute priority crimes. Retired judges may be asked to assist in presiding over special courts on a short-term basis, while additional judicial presiding officers are hired to staff the increased number of courts.

Sentencing and parole guidelines must be reviewed to ensure murderers and rapists serve prison sentences commensurate with the harm they have caused to their victims and society as a whole.

At the same time, we will develop an effective juvenile justice and rehabilitation system, as well as alternative restorative justice and rehabilitation system, as well as alternative restorative justice programmes as a replacement for incarceration in non-violent cases.

Emphasise social and health support, rather than punishment, for substance abuse offences. Non-violent drug users should not be imprisoned, but assisted with social and health services. RISE Mzansi will investigate the decriminalisation of drug usage while prosecuting drug trafficking and dealing. This will shift the substance abuse focus towards healthcare and treatment rather than punitive justice. (See Area 3: Individual Well-being)

Finally, we will strengthen the administration of justice to improve access, efficiency and public trust.

We will work with the judiciary to:

- Ensure proper, sensitive management of rape and sexual assault proceedings so that victims are not further subjected to abusive processes;

- Reduce the inordinately long time to prosecute corruption cases, where wealthy defendants are able to delay trials for many years;

- Improve the functioning of magistrates’ courts with separate, specialised criminal and civil courts;

- Fix and standardise the online systems used at courts to ensure their smooth functionality.

PRIORITY THEME 3

ECONOMY AND JOBS – TOWARDS PROSPERITY FOR ALL

South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. Although the legacies of colonialism and apartheid play a major role, it is also true that there are far too many people in South Africa without any

income at all due to government failure and mismanagement of the economy. This is why economic justice is one of the cornerstones of building a truly non-racial society.

To achieve this goal, we need our economy to double in size every 12 years, which can be achieved with an annual minimum GDP growth rate of 6% per annum. Achieving such a growth rate needs visionary, focused and capable leadership in all spheres of government and in Parliament. It also needs a professional civil service.

However, government finances are in a very poor state due to years of corruption and mismanagement. The government simply does not have the funds needed to pay for our expanding priorities.

Notwithstanding, we also cannot worsen government debt by borrowing more and recklessly because unsustainable debt levels destroy national sovereignty, and potentially put creditors and the IMF in de facto control of our government.

Therefore, rescuing the economy needs the participation and buy-in of all key stakeholders such as trade unions, business organisations and civic groups. Agreement is needed on protection of the social wage and accelerating investment in people, communities and the economy. This makes private sector investment a critical component of the solution, within the frame of a broad social contract, reflected in government policy and regulation.

When transparently done and regulated, private investment in public assets can effectively replace borrowing, reduce fiscal risk (from bailouts) and stimulate investment in the economy.

Therefore, in addition to governing in the right way as set out under the Leadership and Governance section:

We will lead the building of an inclusive, modern and prosperous economy that creates sustainable job and business opportunities for all South Africans. To do this effectively, we will begin by urgently tackling constraints to investment and employment, which are:

- Too many young South Africans do not complete their schooling, and when some do, they do not get post-school training and development opportunities. RISE Mzansi will adopt a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to improve basic education outcomes, and to provide skills training opportunities to those without skills, whether they have matric or not.

- Collapse in municipal governance, which negatively affects service delivery to businesses, and discourages new investment. RISE Mzansi will prioritise placing dysfunctional municipalities in major economic nodes under administration until they meet basic Auditor-General standards, and are on a sustainable path to recovery.

- Slow, onerous and inconsistently applied local and national level regulations. RISE Mzansi will ensure that regulations are easy to understand, licensing or regulatory approvals are efficient; and such regulations and license conditions are strictly monitored, with appropriate sanction for transgressions. RISE Mzansi will digitise as much of licensing as possible (see Governance section).

- Violent and organised crime. We will invest significant resources in fighting crime at local and national level, on the back of significant changes in police and security cluster leadership. We want small family businesses and large corporations to be safe to operate.

- Transnet and Eskom; low public investment in networked infrastructure. Transnet and Eskom (loadshedding) are the two biggest constraints to economic activity. Water infrastructure is a close third. We will ensure that both entities have boards and management with the requisite experience and expertise in turning around large industrial companies in crisis. Their installation will be accompanied by public and private capital injection within a clear framework of national legislation and rules of governance (see Governance section in relation to SOCs) to protect the public interest. In both companies, the next priority is to review all major contracts for price gouging, eliminate corrupt officials and reform their procurement systems. Once this is done, the government will deploy a reformed law enforcement capacity free of political interference to detect, apprehend and prosecute those who sabotage their infrastructure for financial gain.

• To reduce pressure on the grid and create new economic opportunities, we will use international climate change transition financial instruments to develop a local solar production and installation industry, helping households and small- to medium-sized businesses reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. The majority of existing households and businesses will be powered in this way within five years.

• We will invest in the repair of major water and flood management infrastructure, and the development of new infrastructure to basic service delivery and enable new commercial investments in major industries.

We will work with economic stakeholders across society to build a growing, inclusive, globally competitive economy.

RISE Mzansi will pursue five overarching economic objectives.

Repair government finances to protect the social wage and invest in the economy. We will appoint competent, qualified ministers and heads of department, eliminate waste and prosecute corruption across the government. We will review the state-owned company portfolio (of over 800), retain those that are necessary and shut down or sell those that are not. This is to stem the bleeding of government finances into ineffectual companies. Government finances must be spent on basic human and community needs, and on sustaining economic growth to create employment.

Make the economy more inclusive by supporting black people and women to create wealth through productive enterprise. We will support entrepreneurs with upskilling and access to capital at competitive lending rates to reduce enterprise failure, grow the economy and create employment opportunities. For this we will use a combination of fiscal reprioritisation and financial sector prudential interventions within the risk parameters of Basel regulations.

Support anchor industries to achieve higher growth rates, and support the rapid development of secondary and new industries. We will support high revenue earning and employment industries that make the biggest contribution to employment, foreign exchange earnings and tax to overcome systemic constraints. The constraints include poor, slow regulation and outdated policy thinking and infrastructure. These include but are not limited to mining, agriculture, financial services, tourism, manufacturing and services. We will particularly focus on incentivising and supporting value-adding capital investments that improve the complexity and export value of our goods and services.

Invest in human capital, technology and innovation, as the basis of a competitive 21st-century knowledge economy. This entails overhauling our skills and training systems, as well as easing skilled immigration and business travel. (Please see Individual well-being section).

Industries we will grow in this way include the following:

- Green industries. Participation in green value chains (critical minerals, products for green energy supply chains, electric vehicles). Green industrial parks to produce green versions of energy-intensive products for the world market (steel, aluminium, ammonia, data storage).

- Tourism (domestic, African and international). We will invest in repairing existing road and other network infrastructure to prime tourism regions, and invest in new infrastructure for underdeveloped, high potential tourism areas. These interventions will be done in the context of carbon-neutral operations, building family and community-based businesses and Black Economic Empowerment.

- The creative economy. We will leverage public and private investment in community arts and sports infrastructure, and skills, to build a vibrant amateur and professional arts sector. We will also encourage and assist marquee arts productions that promote South African arts, tourism and national culture.

- Cannabis and hemp. We will put in place an enabling regulatory environment for the industrial hemp and medical and recreational cannabis industries, with focus on enabling small, black, women-owned and rural businesses to participate in this growth opportunity.

- Advanced manufacturing. We will enable and fast- track investment in production capacity that integrates South Africa into lucrative global supply chains.

Affected sectors include auto, mining, chemicals, technology and medicine, among others.

Black women are more likely to be unemployed, to live below the poverty line, and to be on the receiving end of genderbased exclusion from opportunity. Yet, they are also more likely to have the burden of providing for their households. Specific interventions to ensure they access economic and social justice are critical to achieving the levels of equality promised in our national Constitution.

Therefore: We will invest in black, women-owned and all small enterprises, addressing access to finance, markets and technology.

We will:

- Leverage the national balance sheet to enable affordable, patient finance to emerging and small businesses with growth potential.

- Use government procurement to provide preferential access for genuinely black and women-owned companies, where bidders are selected based on quality, innovation and value for public money, not political connections. Preferential procurement should speak to industrial policy, and be applied to value-added goods and services which can be feasibly produced locally.

- Use targeted regulation and competition policy to roll back abuse and anti-competitive practices by dominant players.

- Improve support and market access for informal businesses.

- Critically, we will help emerging businesses access know-how through accessible industry innovation centres and business services.

- Support smallholder/emerging farmers and cooperatives with infrastructure, affordable capital and know-how on modern farming innovations and extension services.

Human capital, knowledge and innovation

We will improve the quality of teaching in all subjects – and especially science, technology, engineering and mathematics – because the modern economy is knowledge-intensive. This requires matric graduates with strong problem solving, critical thinking, literacy and numeracy skills, who can go onto higher education, training or apprenticeship. Therefore, basic education reform will be a critical enabler of inclusive growth. (See education reform in Priority 4)

Other core drivers of knowledge acquisition are skilled immigration and foreign investment. Foreign workers and companies are conduits for new know-how and technological diffusion. We will simplify rules for skilled workers who do not replace South Africans, but rather enhance our industries’ ability to grow and create jobs for South Africans.

PRIORITY THEME 4

INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY WELL-BEING – BUILDING A HEALTHY AND CARING NATION

The family, whatever its structure or composition, is the epicentre of most people’s lives. All families are physically and emotionally situated within communities. Therefore, the right of every South African is intricately linked to infrastructure and services that are available in or to their community.

Access to basic rights such as the right to clean water, good quality education, adequate housing and land are all linked to spatial planning and intentionally constructed and maintained community infrastructure. Freedom means that a person must live a safe, healthy and prosperous life, with access to public goods, resources and opportunities that enable meaningful democratic participation.

This means that the outcome of good democratic governance should be the well-being of all individuals, families and communities premised on an ethic of care. Care ensures that the outcome of our political systems, legislation, policies and processes must be an incremental and visible improvement in the well-being of all South Africans. The protection and guarantee of human rights through the delivery of life-giving services like access to sufficient nutritious food, clean water, shelter, sanitation infrastructure, safe environments as well as physical and mental healthcare, are all essential for the well-being of the nation.

In countless community meetings, South Africans made clear that they want to see a positive difference in their own lives, as well as those of loved ones and of their communities at large.

Their contributions had two main pillars. The first was issues that relate to sustaining lives and livelihoods, which are urgent. The second related to infrastructure and policymaking that make their communities liveable spaces for a life filled with hope, opportunity, prosperity and the ability to take part in democratic processes.

Urgent issues

- Millions of South Africans do not have enough food to meet daily needs. Even those who are able to put food on the table feel fortunate to have more than two meals in 24 hours.

• From this, people spoke of children with learning difficulties, often called ‘slow learners’ in our meetings, who are stunted as a direct result of malnutrition.

- Almost every community complains about substance abuse, a combination of drugs and alcohol, with the latter not being regarded as a problem because it is so common.

- Mental health problems as a result of poverty, loss of hope and other traumas stalk families and communities, and people told us this is not unrelated to the substance abuse that overwhelms so many people, especially the young. There are no facilities or accessible programmes to address this.

- Communities complained about violent crime that is often perpetrated by young people from within the community. Correctly, they attribute it to loss of hope, and the lack of skills, jobs and basic community recreational and cultural infrastructure. The violence occurs either in the home or in

‘social’ settings such as taverns and bars, or near them. In many instances, substance abuse is involved.

- The young and old spoke of desperation for work to feed themselves and their families. Too many did not finish school, or just finished school but did not receive any additional training.

Therefore we have identified the following urgent priorities:

1 Ending hunger and ensuring affordable, nutritious food to poor South Africans

Given the prevalence of food insecurity and hunger, a RISE Mzansi Government will use a combination of government income grants, food discount vouchers for grant recipients, increasing access to piped water in rural areas, land for own food production, and small- scale farming to improve food security. We will also facilitate the development of efficient market linkages between local small-scale farmers and cooperatives with wholesalers and retailers to make the market more accessible and competitive. These interventions will eliminate hunger, malnutrition and stunting. To enable this, we will accelerate spatial planning and land distribution, using lawful expropriation of such land whenever necessary.

2 Readily available, affordable basic services.

A RISE Mzansi Government will invest in network infrastructure to deliver potable water to every home, sanitation infrastructure for every community and low-cost internet connectivity in every community. These are essential for supporting education, health and other critical community services.

3 Invest in substance abuse education and rehabilitation facilities in or near affected communities. Substance abuse and dependency are a public health issue, not mere criminality.

We will expand mental health services to all local clinics through a combination of community-based peer-to-peer support groups, placements of more social workers and psychologists in rural and township communities, training of more auxiliary social workers and occupational healthcare workers, and the appointments of clinic chaplains in clinics and hospitals. We will also invest in specialised substance abuse rehabilitation centres in all nine provinces, paying particular attention to small towns and rural areas which have no facilities nearby at all.

4 Provide skills training opportunities for one million people without matric within five years.

Because half of unemployed South Africans do not have matric, we will invest in regional training facilities for people who did not

complete school. These will focus on knowledge and skills related to key primary sectors such as agriculture and tourism, as well as trades such as bricklaying, plumbing, etc. All training will include basic business skills training to enable the formation and success of family and localised enterprises. We will also implement a three-month conditional job-seekers grant connected to the completion of such skills development programmes.

5 Fight violent crime.

We will prioritise efficient regulation of alcohol sales within communities and proactive preventative policing in well-known violent crime nodes. We will divert substance abuse victims to counselling and rehabilitation centres, while prioritising the detection and prosecution of drug traffickers and distributors.

6 Make drug trafficking and distribution a priority crime.

We will make drug trafficking a national priority crime, and create a special unit within SAPS detection services to deal with it at local, provincial and national level. We will also prioritise citizen- led intelligence gathering to make it difficult for traffickers and distributors to operate.

COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND POLICY RELATING TO INDIVIDUAL, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY WELL-BEING AND PROSPERITY

The quality of life of South Africans is affected by a variety of systemic factors, chief among which is spatial injustice. The most important is to restore proper governance to all municipalities using national government interventions where necessary. Proper governance will reduce financial waste and corruption, saving funds to deliver the social wage.

1 Land distribution and spatial planning. We will reorientate spatial planning to take account of the rate and nature of urbanisation. New city and rural planning will provide for a mix of government housing and serviced stands for those who can afford to build. We will also provide for “green zones” that include stock and crop farming for own and commercial food production. In this regime, every stand, rural or urban, will have piped water to enable sanitation and food production. This planning will take account of transport infrastructure needs, which are often ignored, especially in rural areas.

2 Reshape cities for affordable housing, shorter commuting and better access to employment. RISE Mzansi will use the full range of government’s fiscal and urban planning tools to increase availability of and access to affordable housing within the core of our cities, close to economic opportunities and public amenities.

3 Fix and expand transport infrastructure. In the first five years we will focus on repairing and renewing all provincial and local roads to enable local trade and service delivery, especially to tourism and agriculture nodes. In the long term, we will build new road and rail infrastructure to enable safe and affordable local and regional transport options.

4 Provide for child care and ECD facilities in every community. Women have the burden of care in their families, making it difficult for them to sustain employment opportunities. We will invest in training of Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners and child care givers, and in keeping community facilities open for 12 hours (6am to 6pm). These will also be part of a tax rebate system for single mothers and other similarly situated child guardians whose earnings are below R500k per annum.

5 Install basic healthcare and wellness facilities within a 15-minute ride of every home, and a major health facility within an hour.

Our health system is chronically under-funded, poisoned by corruption and in administrative disarray. It has also lost many experienced health practitioners to other countries. Those that remain are often poorly managed, overworked and under mental strain due to their working conditions. These conditions compromise the quality of care South Africans deserve.

Private healthcare facilities, which generally benefit those with medical aid, are insufficient in number and capacity to provide effective healthcare for everyone, even with an instrument like the National Health Insurance. South Africa needs all its health facilities to be well-equipped, have sufficient professional and auxiliary staff, and be properly managed and led. We need the same in national and provincial health administration, and political oversight.

Therefore:

- At national, provincial and hospital level we will install competent administrators, root out procurement corruption, prioritise efficient delivery of equipment and medication, and improve the working conditions of healthcare workers.

- We will also expand the training of additional healthcare workers to keep up with both population expansion and urbanisation. To address the short-term needs, we will consider special multi-year work permits for suitably qualified primary healthcare workers and specialists from other countries until we address our own skills shortage.

- We will convert local clinics into primary healthcare and health promotion centres. These centres will provide a range of health promotion and education programmes, regular support and counselling groups for chronic or terminal patients, wellness days that encourage regular health status checks, and services

friendly to marginalised groups such as people living with disabilities.

- The national health system will work with other government departments to promote healthy habits among the population. This will complement efforts in spatial planning, land distribution for food production, green and leisure or recreational spaces in communities etc. This will also be integrated with school activities and the curriculum.

Architecting basic education reform.

- We will develop a roadmap to reform the education system to achieve better outcomes for all learners. This reform will consider all aspects of our education system, including, among others: education governance; teacher training and development; modernising and future-proofing curricula; effective use of education technology; evaluating teachers’ effectiveness; and ensuring there are multiple, effective pathways for learners into post-school employment, further education or training.

- RISE Mzansi sees the education system as a critical and under-used asset for nation building. We believe bilingual education should be mandatory, with all learners required to learn at least one African language. Civic education should also be a mandatory subject, for students to learn about their constitutional rights, civic responsibilities and how our democracy is organised. Aspects of the curriculum should be Africa-centred, introducing learners to the ways of knowing, histories and key social, political and economic issues of classical, post-colonial and modern Africa, and engage them to imagine African futures.

- We will ensure schools are safe spaces for children and learning by eradicating pit latrines and increasing security interventions in at-risk schools.

7 Helping youth achieve their dreams.

- Scale the National Youth Service to one million young people who have completed matric per year, giving youth not in employment, education or training a path into skills

development, work experience and interpersonal development with a stipend that is equivalent to a job-seekers grant.

- Implement youth leadership programmes as public-private- community projects. Direct the portions of CSI and ED spending be used to invest in programmes with stipends and network opportunities that identify young leaders and connect them to social and economic opportunities.

- Community childcare facilities for working women and families. Women and young people largely carry the burden of care in our communities. RISE Mzansi will invest in community child and elderly care facilities, leveraging existing community infrastructure and people who already volunteer for this work, or through community or non-profit organisations.

- Reshape our cities for affordable housing, shorter commuting and better access to employment. RISE Mzansi will use the full range of government’s fiscal and urban planning tools increase availability of and access to affordable housing within the core of our cities, close to economic opportunities and public amenities.

PRIORITY THEME 5

THE CLIMATE CRISIS

We believe it is possible to achieve development and economic growth in an environmentally sustainable way. Reimagining our development path in this way is critical to life as we know it, and preventing the worst scenarios of climate change impacts.

Our collective response to the climate crisis also creates an opportunity to build a fairer economy and right many of the wrongs of the past.

With this in mind, RISE Mzansi’s climate and environmental policies are considered critical enablers of socio-economic development and the realisation of the South Africa we deserve.

Our manifesto priorities on the climate crisis are to:

1. ‘Leave no one behind’: Balance inclusive development with our need to transition from a high-carbon intensive to low- carbon intensive economy in the shortest reasonable time.

2. Help communities mitigate climate change impacts including heat, drought, impact on food supply and increased frequency of natural disasters.

Accordingly, a RISE Mzansi Government will support the following on climate policy:

Electricity:

RISE Mzansi supports a balanced, green energy mix. Coal should steadily decrease as a primary energy source. Solar, wind and energy storage should be scaled. For baseload generation and energy security, we are open to a role for gas in the transition, as well as next- generation nuclear based on small, modular reactors.

RISE Mzansi will accelerate the shift to a more decentralised energy system – one which all citizens can directly participate in and benefit from. Tax deductions for residential rooftop solar should be increased. Low-income communities should be assisted to develop their own energy cooperatives, whereby they become ‘prosumers’ of electricity.

Once the electricity crisis is resolved, all low-income households will be provided with free electricity between 9am and 3pm each day.

Transport:

RISE Mzansi will begin what will be a decades-long process to fully electrify the country’s transport system, through expanded, integrated public transport networks (electric trains and buses) and a shift to electric cars for carbon mitigation and export competitiveness.

Industry:

To become more competitive in the global economy, and to create healthier ecosystems, the country’s manufacturers will need to decarbonise their operations.

Through incentives and financial de-risking mechanisms, the state can accelerate the use of green hydrogen (a replacement for fossil gas and coal in certain heavy industrial processes) and electric arc furnaces.

Agriculture:

Government will offer incentives and budgetary resources for water- efficiency projects, the adoption of drought-resistant crop varieties, and the use of innovative new approaches to farming, including agrivoltaics (which provide shading for crops) and regenerative agriculture practices. Such interventions should be aimed at both commercial farmers and small-scale subsistence farmers in urban and rural areas.

Circular economy:

Formalise and scale up the waste-picking and recycling industry to create jobs and build a more resilient and sustainable economy.

Make the manufacturers of goods more responsible for the waste that their products cause, through industry-wide recycling initiatives, and the implementation of the ‘polluter pays’ principle.

Disaster management:

A RISE Mzansi government will build an apparatus which can bring together planning, preparedness, early warning systems and rapid response. Emergency services, trauma counselling, food and alternative shelter must be quickly made available in the wake of natural disasters.

ADDITIONAL POLICY AREAS

MANAGING IMMIGRATION

Poor management and administration of immigration over many years has resulted in hardening attitudes to immigration. Some citizens have begun to question the impact of immigration on the labour market in the context of high unemployment, asking whether immigrant business owners operate within the law, and whether the government fundamentally is able to regulate who enters the country at all.

RISE Mzansi believes we have a problem with the management of immigration, not with immigrants generally. RISE Mzansi therefore takes a humane, balanced approach to immigration. We aim to better manage it, not stop it.

Effective immigration policy which has public trust, requires effective government broadly, including effective law enforcement, local by- law enforcement, business regulation and community leadership.

Our manifesto priorities on management of immigration are to:

1 Dramatically reduce irregular immigration

2. Ease entry into South Africa of skilled workers, frequent travellers and tourists to aid economic development and job creation

3 Develop a realistic and practical approach to managing regional migration

4 Increase public trust in the management of immigration

RISE Mzansi immigration proposals include the following:

1 Manage flow and treatment of inward immigration through diplomatic engagement with neighbouring countries. Extend our borders by addressing immigration flows long before they reach SA.

2 Reduce pull factors for irregular migration through stronger enforcement of employers. Fund strengthened enforcement capacity through increased fees to reflect true cost of administration, and fine collections.

3 Fix the asylum seeker system: stop its use as a de facto permit for economic migrants. Clear the multi-year backlog through special projects.

4 Ease skilled immigration and business/tourist travel as a critical enabler of economic development. Simplify the critical skills visa. Make it easier for intra-company transfers to stay in SA. Regularise long-term, multiple-entry visas for tourists and business travellers.

5 Mandate the Competition Commission to study the local supermarket/spaza sector. Investigate claims of unfair business practices.

FOREIGN POLICY

A well-considered, effective and consistent foreign policy is critical for a country’s development and stability, especially in a globalised world.

South African Foreign Policy needs a refresh to better reflect our national values, advance our national interests and respond to global challenges and opportunities. At all times, our foreign policy should reflect our values of human rights and constitutional democracy based on self-determination, government by and for the people and social justice. Even as we acknowledge that we cannot impose these norms on other countries, we should speak truth consistently as our moral example is one of our sources of soft power. RISE Mzansi believes South Africa should never look away from human rights violations.

RISE Mzansi believes South Africa’s foreign policy priorities should be to:

1. Advance our economic development, including securing preferential access to priority markets and attract foreign direct investment.

2. Advance Africa’s development, peace and security, independence, unity and regional integration.

3. Support the protection and advancement of human rights across the world.

4. Advocate for global governance reforms to reflect the perspectives of African and developed countries in international decision-making.

5. Contribute to global efforts to collaboratively address shared challenges, such as peace and security, the climate crisis, sustainable development and technology governance.

Accordingly, a RISE Mzansi government will:

1 Focus intensely on economic diplomacy with our biggest trading partners and new potential trading partners (such as in the Middle East).

2 Work in partnership with countries of similar constitutional values to build an international culture of human rights. This will include supporting international human rights education and accountability. We will cooperate with and support international and regional forums that seek to end gross human rights violations such as systematic torture, arbitrary arrest and denial of basic political rights; war crimes; systematic oppression of ethnic or national groups; ethnic cleansing; genocide and other forms of gross human rights abuses.

3 Become a leading country in operationalising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to increase market access and opportunities for South African companies.

4 Use our hosting of the G20 Summit in 2025 as an opportunity to re-establish South Africa as an African leader and sought-after global partner.

5 Strengthen the African Union’s (AU) capacity to resolve conflicts in Africa to achieve human security, peace, stability and development. We will work with the AU and other regional leaders to increase Africa’s capacity to conduct effective diplomacy, mediation and peacekeeping.

6 Help shape an improved, rules-based international order which can bridge deepening global divides, and make progress on the biggest global issues: development and addressing inequality; conflict; climate crisis; and migration.

PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITIES

More than four million South Africans live with a disability. Although our national constitution guarantees them the same rights as everyone else, the reality is that they experience those rights far less in practice than most people. RISE Mzansi recognises that constant, conscious efforts must be made to ensure these rights are realised in every administrative and political decision made by either parliament or the government executive.

We are particularly conscious of the deprivation of disabled people in rural communities where basic infrastructure often does not exist. Even in instances where it does, it often does not cater at all for people with disabilities. People with intellectual disabilities or handicaps are also often vulnerable to acts of cruelty and neglect with no public health and welfare alternatives so they can live a decent life.

Our Objective is that people with disabilities are able to live as independently and as safely as possible, and to participate meaningfully in social, political and economic life. Therefore, a RISE Mzansi Government will:

- Prioritise appropriate housing (access and design) for families who have a member with a child with disabilities or that give care to a person with severe disabilities.

- Build and reorientate public infrastructure to ensure safe mobility for people with various physical disabilities. This includes paved walkways, public transport and other built environment solutions in all communities.

- Provide channels, infrastructure and opportunities for people with disabilities to effectively represent themselves in local and national democratic participation forums, including being public representatives. In this respect we believe in the adage “Nothing about us without us”.

- Set norms and standards for safeguarding against discrimination in service delivery, public infrastructure, employment and other opportunities. These norms will encourage continuous consciousness of the impact of policy and administrative decisions on the rights of people with disabilities.

- Use the schooling system and infrastructure to build a culture of consciousness about and care for people with disabilities.

- Set targets for fulfilment of disability rights in all major policy areas and administrative decisions.

NATION BUILDING

South Africans have told us they want a country united behind common values, which RISE Mzansi has set out as Freedom, Equality, Justice, Solidarity and Integrity. They identified many social and political ills that are symptomatic of a country with a poor sense of national identity and character, and lack of leadership. These include:

- A culture of lawlessness that begins with leaders and infects all of society, including disregard for rules of the road or norms that sustain social order.

- Lack of respect for human safety and life, with reckless and violent behaviour especially by men, and in particular where substance abuse is involved.

- Inability or unwillingness to select the best for critical roles in society that would advance the interests and well-being of all South Africans.

- Normalisation of corruption in politics, the public service and the private sector especially where the three intersect. This has become so deep that there are many South Africans who praise and idolise politicians and businesspeople who are corrupt and should be in prison.

- The denigration of historical commemorations that are either presented in an openly partisan manner or reduced to mere events of no moral or political significance.

- Glossing over current and historical injustices; and having no clear plan on how to systematically address them.

We have also decided to focus our land justice efforts on land distribution, rather than land restitution. The availability and distribution of land to all South Africans who need it is central to our nation-building efforts, and is a challenge that must be addressed within a generation.

A central element of land justice is long-term spatial planning because land is a finite resource. Future generations have to have access to land, too. We will create a framework that takes account of historical dispossession where necessary, but the long-term environmental, economic, cultural and social needs of rural and urban communities over the next century will be prioritised.

Therefore, RISE Mzansi will:

• Insist on visionary, competent and accountable leadership with a sense of national mission, and respects the dreams and wishes of the South African people. This means appointing suitably qualified people.

• Ruthlessly deal with corruption, focusing on senior figures who have so far managed to escape accountability, to set an example for the seriousness required to end corruption at all levels.

• Reorientate non-racialism to focus on systemic racism such as spatial injustice, poorly-resourced communities, lack of basic community infrastructure, poor access to economic opportunities, etc.

• Bring seriousness back to historical commemorations, and use them to unite South Africans and entrench our national values instead of opportunitistically using them for short-term political gain.

• Focus on preventing crime while resourcing the criminal justice system to investigate, prosecute and conclude criminal cases swiftly and effectively.

• Sponsor education and development initiatives to end South Africa’s culture of male violence, not just against women but male-to-male violence, which is most prevalent in murder, attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm cases.

• Use sports at school and community level to promote a culture of competitiveness, success and peer-to-peer role modelling. We will also leverage and support South Africa’s artistic talents in every community to build a culture of arts-driven national conversation, debate and reflection to promote national cohesion.

RISE MZANSI
FOR THE PEOPLE
BY THE PEOPLE

Risemzani.org

ENDS