ANC vows to transform financial sector

The ANC said it will step up efforts to create jobs, grow the economy and increase access to welfare grants and health care as it kicked off its campaign for an election that will be the sternest test yet of its three decades in power.

The party will ensure that fiscal and monetary policy are better coordinated and that the tax system is fine-tuned with a view toward uplifting the country’s people, it said in its election manifesto, unveiled in Durban,

KwaZulu-Natal, on Saturday.

South Africans go to the polls on Wednesday, 29 May.

The party also pledged to transform the financial sector to ensure that it makes adequate financing available for industrialisation and economic development, provides affordable credit and invests in infrastructure and job creation.

“We have on several occasions stated publicly that we have made some mistakes as the ANC,” President Cyril Ramaphosa told more than 56 000 cheering supporters who packed the city’s Moses Mabhida stadium.

“Now the ANC is working hard to restore your trust and your confidence in us as the leader of fundamental socioeconomic transformation in our society.”

Other promises

The ANC’s other campaign pledges include phasing in a permanent monthly income grant for the vulnerable, implementing a national health insurance plan that’s awaiting Ramaphosa’s sign-off, and creating 2.5 million “job opportunities” through community programmes.

It also undertook to step up the development of new infrastructure, especially in power projects that are needed to end rolling blackouts.

With three months before the election, it would be premature to write off the ANC, which remains a formidable force with the biggest nationwide presence of any party, said Mike Davies, the founder of political advisory company Kigoda Consulting.

“There’s still a loyal ANC voting bloc that we can’t discount,” he said.

“A lot will depend on the voter turnout and whether the party manages to get its supporters to come and cast their ballots.”