UDM touts infrastructure as silver bullet for SA’s woes
• Party uses manifesto launch to lambast ‘looters hiding behind struggle credentials that are protected by ANC’
The UDM election manifesto has identified infrastructure development as a possible catch-all solution to address SA’s socioeconomic crises, including deteriorating infrastructure, unemployment and poverty.
The party, led by Bantu Holomisa, launched its manifesto for the 2024 national and provincial elections at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Gauteng, on Saturday.
The party said it was committed to rooting out corruption in the public and private sectors.
“The culprits who have looted state resources hide behind struggle credentials and, in many instances, loyalty is rewarded with protection against investigation and prosecution.”
It criticised the ANC’s “lack of political will to implement performance and consequence management”.
“The Zondo and Mpati commissions’ reports are languishing at parliament because of this very reason. Even the president of this country declines to release the performance reports of his cabinet, saying that he is scared these reports will embarrass government and his party.”
According to Holomisa, there was only one solution. “The 2024 national and provincial elections are the perfect occasion to rid this nation of the real state capturers.”
He said 30 years into democracy SA was in a crisis. “Where economic growth is concerned, the current government has failed to invest in its people and improve the productive capacity of the economy,” he said, pointing out that areas such as manufacturing, agriculture and engineering, as well as other critical skills, had been neglected.
The UDM lambasted the ANC for what it said was its failure to maintain and build infrastructure, saying the governing party inherited functional infrastructure that it neglected to maintain or expand for SA’s growing nation.
“Nowhere is the lack of maintenance more evident than in our energy infrastructure, which has led us to the point where load-shedding is accepted as a daily part of our lives.
“Most of the country’s infrastructure is deteriorating due to insufficient or total lack of maintenance, even though several infrastructure development projects have been introduced,” the UDM manifesto reads.
“Economic development, growth and job creation should be designed to stimulate rapid infrastructure development and maintenance.”
Public works & infrastructure minister Sihle Zikalala had previously told Business Day that poor project preparation was undermining the government’s efforts to use infrastructure development to grow the struggling economy, which needed an additional R1.6-trillion in public sector infrastructure investment by 2030.
The UDM manifesto said infrastructure-led growth had economic benefits, including increased income, employment, productivity improvement and income redistribution.
On load-shedding, the party said it would propose a publicprivate partnership model for the privatisation of Eskom in which the government holds a 51% stake in the entity for the people of SA.
The party also planned to improve business and investor confidence. It would implement strict fiscal discipline to get the Treasury in order and not use loans for government’s day-today operational expenses.
It wants to “professionalise” the public service and improve service delivery by measuring each department by the services it delivers and the difference such services make to the quality of life of each citizen, as well as by regularly training and upskilling public servants.
On the contentious land issue, the UDM was not in favour of “free-for-all land grabs and evictions, and has long proposed an economic indaba where all stakeholders can ... discuss the macroeconomy, with land at the apex of the debate”.