Maimane’s plan should DA win at polls
DA leader Mmusi Maimane on Monday unveiled his 10-point plan of what he would do in his first 100 days in office should the DA win the May 8 national polls.
Speaking outside the Union Buildings in Tshwane‚ Maimane said his party had a good governance track record – as demonstrated in the DA-controlled Western Cape – from which the rest of SA deserved to benefit.
His national plan of action for the country focused on policies to create a “working nation”.
● Table and pass a jobs act
Maimane said the act would reduce unemployment significantly. The legislation would‚ among other things‚ give incentives to multinational companies to make it easy for them to invest in the country and create jobs.
“We believe‚ more than anything‚ that citizens must have the opportunity to enter the jobs market and we will stimulate key sectors like manufacturing‚ agriculture and tourism‚” said Maimane.
● Rescue
“It is‚ indeed‚ that we fly rich people on SAA while we allow poor people to suffer on trains and give poor citizens who are dependent on welfare R10 social grants increases.
“Therefore‚ the immediate step we would take would be to put SAA on business rescue.”
● Introduce a national civilian service to tackle youth unemployment
The plan includes young people volunteering in the public service’s key sectors‚ such as education‚ health and the judiciary‚ because “anyone who wakes up to go to work in the morning has dignity that goes with it”‚ Maimane said.
● Special teacher-training and national education inspection
Maimane said it was pointless to give a tablet to every pupil as the ANC government had promised‚ if teachers were not equipped through training on how to operate in a digital-first age in education.
The plan would also monitor pupil progress to curb SA’s high drop-out rate.
● Increase child-support grant to R545.
Maimane was of the view that the child support grant was too little‚ thus the DA would increase it.
He dismissed critics who believed this was a populist stance‚ saying it was meant to be a starter pack for unemployed single mothers to look for work.
● A six-point plan for smallbusiness development
“We must exempt small businesses from cumbersome labour legislation and we will improve cash flow‚” he said.
● Stimulate macro enterprise.
● Reduce the cabinet to 15 ministries.
Maimane said the current cabinet was bloated and expensive to maintain‚ but a DA government would reduce it for efficiency and to cut costs.
● Provincialise police Maimane believes a collaboration between provincialised police and metro cops would be more effective than the current national set-up.
● Strengthen army patrols to stop illegal immigrants
“Our borders are porous. I’m not saying people must be locked up . . . Those who come to the country legally must be helped‚ but we must make it impossible for people to enter the country illegally.”