S.Africa: Opposition pledges honest government

JOHANNESBURG

South Africa’s main opposition party pledged Saturday that if it wins the May 8 elections, it will tackle alleged widespread corruption and create a government that serves with honesty.

“We will put an end to the corruption that has ruined our country and betrayed our people. Any politician or official found guilty will go to jail for 15 years,” Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane told a campaign rally in Johannesburg, the nation’s biggest city.

Several South African officials including former President Jacob Zuma have been accused of corrupt dealing and are battling court cases.

There is also an ongoing commission of inquiry probing corrupt dealings between government officials and members of the private sector, most notable the wealthy Indian Gupta family.

“We will cut the size of the state, reduce the cabinet by half, and trim away all the luxuries that this African National Congress [ANC] government has become used to, so that we can increase child grants to living grants,” Maimane told a huge crowd in Dobsonville, south of Johannesburg.

He said under his government, the days of South African officials living like kings at the expense of the people will be over.

Maimane pledged to fight crime by improving training of the police and other security services. “Think about the 57 people who are murdered here every single day. Farmers and farm workers brutally killed,” he said, adding that his government would change the situation.

He also pledged to fight gender-based violence in a country where 110 women daily report that they have been raped.

Maimane also pledged that his party will create at least one job in every home in a country where over 10 million people are unemployed.

“Over 50% of our people live below the poverty line, and this number is getting bigger. We are on borrowed time in this country, using borrowed money. But all things borrowed eventually run out,” he said, calling on voters to trust his party if they want to see change.

He said in government, his alliance will woo investors by creating incentives and jobs that will grow the economy to ensure prosperity for all citizens.

Forty-eight political parties are vying in this month’s elections, including main contenders the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA), and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

Top issues on the campaign trail include job creation and the expropriation of land without compensation from mainly white owners to be redistributed among landless blacks.

Improving the quality of education and health care are also being stressed.