Multiparty Charter tables economic recovery plan for growth and jobs

The Multiparty Charter has announced an economy and jobs recovery plan that it says it will use to turn things around if it wins in the upcoming elections.

The charter parties — the DA, IFP, FF Plus, ActionSA and others — have drafted a strategy to reduce unemployment and poverty by creating conditions for economic growth and global competitiveness.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba presented the plan on behalf of the parties at Durban harbour on Wednesday morning.

“The ANC’s mismanagement of our economy has created an unproductive and uncompetitive economic environment, perfectly illustrated by Durban harbour, the backdrop to this press conference.

“Durban harbour should be a place of bustling economic activity, the gateway for South Africa’s export products, but instead it is a major bottleneck throttling our economy, along with our broken railways and education system,” he said.

The parties, who are brought together by a pact with the intention to cobble together their electoral wins with the aim of unseating the ruling party, say their approach to generating job-creating economic growth was rooted in their agreed set of principles.

“The ANC’s mismanagement of our economy is not only reflected in our unemployment, which stands at 41.2%, but also in the pain South African households experience with the ever-rising cost of living.

“With these urgent issues in mind, the Multiparty Charter, representing the biggest alternative political bloc to the ANC by far, has come together to present a new economic direction for South Africa.”

The parties reinforced their commitment to the shared ideas and to working together in a new national governing coalition to grow South Africa’s economy and create jobs.

“In the face of South Africa's bleak economic outlook marked by 41% unemployment, a constrained business environment and decreased investor confidence, the Multiparty Charter for South Africa has unveiled our plan to arrest this decline by stabilising public finances, generating inclusive economic growth and enhancing the quality of our education system.

“Our plan adopts a two-pronged approach which focuses on fostering the creation of conditions conducive to economic growth while simultaneously growing the skills base of our workforce.”

The charter's shared principles on the economy are:

• The charter will unlock the full potential of investment by removing barriers and eliminating overly prohibitive limitations, driven by the necessity to position South Africa as a competitive market for innovation and investment. We will defend property rights and introduce additional legislative measures to protect land, capital and intellectual property rights.
• The charter will seek to create competitive local manufacturing and productive capacity. To help South African businesses to become more competitive, we will reduce fuel prices by specifically targeting the general fuel levy, reforming fuel taxes, and deregulating the sector.
• The charter will further enhance the efficiency and transparency of fiscal management to ensure value for money in government expenditure on economic infrastructure.
• The charter will establish fiscal discipline on government borrowing by capping the debt-to-GDP ratio annually through implementing a “fiscal rule”. 
• The charter will ensure the independence of the Reserve Bank.
• The charter will unleash the full potential of the SMME sector by tapping into the informal sector and introducing a broad range of regulatory exemptions for SMMEs within their first three years of operation to improve the SMME survival rate. In addition, they will raise SMMEs' VAT threshold to R5m turnover and exempt small businesses from all labour legislation other than the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
• The Multiparty Charter will grow the skills base of the workforce through visa system reforms to allow scarce skills to enter South Africa to replace skills lost locally to emigration, recognise apprenticeships by reintroducing technical colleges and gazette trade test training that the TVET sector will perform — to strengthen the country's workforce capacity and skills to respond to our economic needs.
• The charter recognises that it must future-proof the workforce by aligning skills development mechanisms with current and future economic needs and enhancing the competitiveness and productivity of the labour force.
• The charter will improve the quality of education through the depoliticisation of the education system, enhancing curriculum delivery and reintroducing fit for-purpose performance management systems.
• The charter will improve teacher quality and further this effort by reintroducing teacher training colleges, implementing performance-linked remuneration and establishing a schools inspectorate to ensure the delivery of quality education.
• The charter commits to ensuring that no child is left behind by proactively identifying at-risk learners for additional support, capacitating public education systems with in-house counsellors and educational psychologists, and guaranteeing that every child has transportation to get to school.

Mashaba said the approach towards the economy and jobs represents the principles on which there is broad consensus among the parties within the charter with respect to South Africa’s economic outlook and what needs to be done to address it.

Despite this combined offering, the charter said each individual party still maintains a number of unique policies which they will present to the electorate throughout the campaign for the elections.

“Beyond these shared principles, voters are encouraged to consider what each party offers in making their choice for 2024, confident that there is agreement on the fundamental governing principles and approach.”

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