Scrapping BEE laws, declaring war on crime and ushering young people into a year of national service: this is how ActionSA plans to govern if it wins the 2024 elections.
The party will this week gather 614 delegates from its 52 districts and eight metros at the Birchwood conference centre to debate the draft policy plan that will shape their campaign.
“Action SA will never be a safe political party where it adopts positions that are in a safe terrain. We need to differentiate ourselves clearly,” said national chair Michael Beaumont.
High up on the priority list is ditching BEE policy in its current form as the party believes it has failed dismally.
“We are going to provide the very first alternative to BEE. There’s a difference between the empowerment of black people, which we are unapologetically in favour of, versus the act that has established the BEE policy, which has failed.
“We are putting forth a suite of policies which include an opportunity fund, where a percentage of the revenue generated from the private sector is put together based on the current cost of compliance that businesses have to go through in terms of BEE.
“The difference is that this privately managed fund will fund a vast and unprecedented level of expenditure at grassroots level. It will be for skills development, access to finance for small businesses and creating opportunities where BEE has never been able to.”
Beaumont said the party believes this would rid the country of the re-enrichment of the rich, politically connected elite.
Another big ticket item on their draft policy plan is the introduction of a three-year universal basic income stimulus that proposes R1,400 cash payments to all eligible South Africans. All adult South Africans earning below the Sars income tax threshold and all children eligible for the child support grant would be automatically registered to receive the money.
The party, deliberately calling it a stimulus and not a grant, says it could create between 1.6-million and 2.1-million jobs.
“Grants help people survive, whereas stimuli are about flushing money into the economy that circulates and creates economic activity. The perspective here is that between 1.6-million and 2.1-million jobs can arise from this kind of stimulus, and GDP growth of 5% in that period of time. We believe that’s what the economy needs. As we talk about skills development we need a growing economy that is creating homes for those skills.”
ActionSA would also clamp down on crime, saying other parties have softened their approach to the problem.
“All conversations are about the rights of perpetrators — we are offering an approach where minimum sentencing is changed so that life means life and we throw away the key so that you may never go out and hurt another person.
“We are also going to embark on a widespread building of prisons to ensure that we are not releasing prisoners because of overcrowding. There will also be a hard labour requirement for prisoners to provide labour for government infrastructure projects, to ensure that they are earning their keep in those prisons and effectively helping to build the society that they were instrumental in damaging.”
The party also plans to introduce a year of national service for young people who leave school without a clear pathway to further their studies, go into business or get a job.
“The SANDF and police force have a natural requirement for personnel but also health care, education and other places may be available for people to learn their trade. Too many young people leave school with no direction. That’s why the alcohol and substance abuse in the country among young people is so prolific. We want to provide those young people with a sense of meaning and a sense of direction.”
Energy stability, health care, education, rural development and traditional affairs, and climate and environment have been prioritised in the party's policy draft.
The draft was formulated out of months of deliberation seeking to provide a solution for fixing the country.
“The practical basis of our solutions emanates from professionals and expert-based processes.”
The policies will be discussed and voted on at the conference.
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