ANC, DA, EFF ‘oblivious’ to climate crisis
The Climate Justice Charter Movement’s critique of the main parties’ manifestos contesting the local government elections found them ‘shallow’
The ANC, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters seem to be “oblivious” to the effects of the climate crisis as their “shallow” local government election manifestos reflect, a critique by the Climate Justice Charter Movement has found.
The country faces multiple crises, including hunger, poverty, unemployment, inequality, rampant corruption and failure to deliver basic services and are among the reasons 13 million eligible voters have not registered to vote in the elections on 1 November, the movement said.
These problems are being worsened by the climate crisis, it said. “Climate shocks such as El Niñoinduced droughts, cyclonic storms and prolonged heatwaves have destroyed millions of lives and livelihoods.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that within the next decade the Earth’s temperature will overshoot a 1.5°C increase. For Southern Africa, which is warming at about twice
the global average, this will mean an almost 3°C temperature rise.
“The current climate disasters such as flooding are getting worse, more infrastructure will be damaged and if no mitigation [efforts to reduce or prevent emissions of greenhouse gases] and adaptation plans [reducing countries’ vulnerability by increasing their ability to absorb impacts] are adopted with urgency by local governments, millions will die. Worryingly, all our political parties
seem oblivious to the impacts of the climate crisis as reflected by their shallow manifestos.”
The three manifestos are “symptomatic” of the broader climate denialism in local politics, according to the critique.
The ANC manifesto fails to prioritise local solutions to social problems. “Top-down technocratic approaches to local government planning ignore people’s lived experiences and the way that the climate crisis is impacting them. Such planning ignores the fact that many rural communities are living in perpetual day zero and many small scale subsistence farmers have stopped farming due to droughts.”
The DA’S approach to planning revolves around expert consultation. “Experts cannot replace democratic participation, their expertise should not undermine the daily realities of communities,” read the critique.
The EFF manifesto, too, “undermines democratic planning” because of its belief in centralised planning that revolves around councillors. “Such a vanguardist approach to local government further weakens democracy and excludes the masses from the decisions that determine a lot in their lives,” said the critique
The critique states how the ANC manifesto has no plan for the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels. Nor does it prioritise lowering municipalities’ carbon emissions.
The DA’S plans on using LED streetlights is welcomed, but the party stops short of prioritising investment into a new renewable energy nexus for municipalities, according to the critique.
It also said: “The EFF has no plan to phase out coal nor does it even bother to promise to tackle the crisis of carbon emissions, which have made the country a carbon-criminal state.”
The prioritising of urban agriculture and community food gardens by the ANC is welcomed because this is “something that we and other civil society groups have been calling for. However, the ANC has no plan to transform agriculture, which perpetuates inequalities and its narrative of food security is misplaced because the crisis of hunger in South Africa is not due to production but access to food.”
The DA has no plan to transform the agriculture model or to help small-scale farmers and informal traders. And the EFF “doesn’t propose transformative changes in agriculture. However, their pledge to prioritise rural farmers is welcome,” read the critique.
It noted that the ANC has taken a “casual and ignorant approach to water”, despite knowing that South Africa’s water demand will outstrip supply by 17% in less than a decade.
Almost 40% of municipal water is lost through leakages in pipes. “This cannot continue in a heating world. Unfortunately, the ANC manifesto is lacklustre in this. The DA has no understanding of water as a commons. Its manifesto reflects a party that sees water as nothing more than a taxable commodity.”
The EFF “acknowledges the obvious” — that South Africa needs rapid water infrastructure construction. “However, they ignore the impact of the climate crisis on South Africa’s water system. Typical of opposition politics, there are more political points in blaming the ANC’S failed infrastructure projects rather than acknowledging climate realities.”
The critique notes how many South Africans are reluctant to use public transport because it is often unsafe and unreliable. “But public transport use will lower our carbon emissions and ease the burden of cars in our cities. Unfortunately, the ANC manifesto does not reflect this vision for its municipalities.
“The DA fails to prioritise rail for cargo transportation, which would ease the truck backlogs that damage roads and emit tons of CO2.”
According to the critique, sustainable roads such as the Jeffreys Bay eco-friendly road, which is mixed with plastic, is a welcome strategy by the DA, and could be a “gamechanger” in road construction and plastic recycling. The EFF proposes only the transport developments of road infrastructure using tar and carbon-intensive concrete.
The critique said the DA and ANC fail to prioritise the rights of nature and their solutions to municipal problems are not climate-centred olutions.
“The EFF’S municipal protected area expansion strategy is a liberal approach to conservation, one that privatises biodiversity to a few reserves. The charter rejects this and calls for eco-centric living ... the EFF’S plan to give incentives to companies that limit their pollution levels is at best, misguided.”
The critique said South Africa needs a local government that will punish and criminalise companies that pollute and violate section 24 of the Constitution and the National Environmental Management Act, “not a local government that will give companies incentives just for not destroying ecosystems, biodiversity and livelihoods”.