JOHANNESBURG - Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters gathered at the Mehlareng stadium in Tembisa on Saturday for the party’s elections manifesto launch. EFF leader Julius Malema addressed thousands of supporters who came out in their red berets and t-shirts. During his address, Malema said 20 years into democracy the majority of blacks are still landless and hopeless. He said the EFF can deliver hope and inspiration to the people of South Africa. On employment The EFF believed all jobs in the country should be permanent and the party would implement legislation that would ensure this. The EFF would institute the following minimum wage structures: -- Mineworkers R12,500 -- Farmworkers R5,000 -- Manufacturing workers R6,500 -- Retail workers, cashiers, assistants R5,000 -- All construction workers R7,000 -- Petrol attendants R5,000 -- All cleaners R4,500 -- Domestic Workers R4,500 -- Private security guards R7,500 -- Full time waiters and waitresses R4,500 Our government will ensure that no single South African who is employed earns less than R4,500 (per month). We will pass legislation that will demand that all jobs must be made permanent and that all those who are employed permanently must earn a minimum wage of R4,500, said Malema. He also said the EFF will do away with labour brokers. “We dont want contract work. We are going to make sure that there is equal pay for equal work, he said. On BEE, redistribution and affirmative action We are going to do away with BEE which benefits individuals. We must replace BEE with the benefits of the masses. The money from the mines and all strategic sectors in the economy must not go to individuals. It must go the community and the workers, said Malema. We shall ensure that affirmative action is implemented. We shall deliberately empower black people because you were marginalised. We must deliberately bring you to the level of your fellow white counterparts. You must be given preference. If there is a white person asking for this job and a black person asking for the same job, as long as you have the same qualification, a black person must get the job because we want to empower you, he said. On education The EFF will send 15, 000 student to the best university and 5,000 of those must learn medicine. “We are going to increase the capacity of our university so that we can have more young people obtaining tertiary qualifications. Malema said. All children who are three years and older will be compelled to attend early childhood development. We must teach them when they are still young. We want to ensure that we introduce electronic methods in our schools to deal with shortages of textbooks,” he said. On health The EFF government will expedite the implementation of National Health Insurance, said Malema. - EFF would build state-owned companies that would help bring better healthcare. - Companies would include a pharmaceutical company to produce medicine and distribute it to hospitals and clinics. - EFF would also ensure traditional healers were incorporated into the healthcare system. On social grants Malema said under the EFF social grants would increase twofold. - Grants for pensioners would increase from R1300 to R2600 per month. - Disability grants would go up from R1200 to R2400. - Child support grants would increase from R300 to R600 per month. - War veterans would get an increase from R1220 to R2400. - Care dependency would increase from R1200 to R2400 - Foster child grants would increase from R800 to R1600. “The EFF government would introduce a social grant of R2500 per month for all terminally ill South Africans”, he added. On corruption Malema said the EFF would introduce a 20 year prison sentence for public servants who were found guilty of corruption.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 18:50:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015