ID COMMUNICATION  POLICY

Bridging the Digital Divide

The Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) Sector of the South African economy plays a vital role in the development of this country and its people. Not only does it allow for all South Africans to have access to various forms of communications, such as television, radio, telephony services, and the Internet but the ICT sector has the potential to become the major economic driver in the country, thereby alleviating and reducing poverty.

Key challenges in the ICT sector include:

- Fixed line penetration by Telkom remains at an unacceptably low level, especially in the less developed provinces of South Africa.
- SA is dismally lagging behind other countries in terms of connecting people to broadband.
- Telkom’s heavy investment in legacy technology, instead of new technology, has given them monopoly power and the power to charge higher costs to obtain return on their investment

ID Solutions

Independent regulation
Independent regulation of the ICT and broadcasting sector is an essential component in ensuring access to all. Government is currently both a referee and a player in the sector. The control of these assets should therefore be transferred to the Department of Public Enterprises.

ICASA must be sufficiently resourced to enable it to effectively regulate this multibillion rand industry.
• ICASA must be sufficiently funded through increased budgets from the fiscus, and given the ability to derive direct access to some of the licence fees it collects on behalf of the Treasury.

Pro-competitive Environment
The Independent Democrats believes in a balance between a complete free-market and one that is overregulated. The ID also believes that the number of operators in a particular market or market segment in the ICT arena should be between five and eight.
• Licences must be granted to at least three additional ECN licence holders in the core network market segment in addition to the three incumbents (Telkom, Sentech and Neotel). Government policy-makers as well as Icasa should use the provisions of the Electronic Communications Act to provide novel licences as by granting such licences, competition will be increased, thereby increasing customer choice, lowering costs and increasing teledensity and Internet penetration rates.
• Companies that have benefited substantially from their business activities in the ICT sector must be encouraged to plough back their profits into the sector to ensure universal access. This can be achieved by either licence conditions or by creating tax incentives for the rollout of services to these areas by the licence-holders.
• Schools as ICT hubs: Many rural and poorer communities do not have access to telephony and internet services. The ID believes that the Multi Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs) strategy could be refined and improved by using approximately 25 000 schools within South Africa as ICT hubs.
• Frequency spectrum: In an ever increasing wireless infrastructure regime developing globally, issues such as unbundling of the local loop become less and less important, while access to frequency becomes increasingly important. Unfortunately, the traditional wireless frequency, for example 2.8GHz and 3.4Ghz has already been allocated to a number of large incumbents. It would be essential for Icasa to ensure that an adequate policy be developed and implemented to ensure equitable access to radio frequency spectrum. Issues such as use-it-or-lose-it should be adopted in this policy.
• Promotion of small and new operators: It is essential that smaller new operators are protected from abuses from established and large incumbents. In terms of asymmetrical interconnect, the ID proposes that preference is given to smaller new operators, where they interconnect to larger and established incumbents. In addition, a default interconnect agreement, governed by ICASA, and implemented in the absence of a commercially and mutually agreed upon interconnect agreement between two operators will ensure that new and smaller operators are not unfairly treated by large and established incumbents.
• Competition in the core network: The ID believes that it is essential for competition to be introduced into the core network so as to drive down prices and encourage higher uptake of services amongst a majority of South Africans. This could be achieved by licensing more ECN operators within this area, or alternatively licensing the geographical ECN operators.

ID ECONOMIC POLICY

Bridging the Divides and Growing an Economy that delivers to all our People

The ID believes that it is essential to address our structural economic divides, both to create the conditions for sustainable economic growth and to ensure that this growth translates into increased prosperity for all the people of South Africa. These divides are:

1) Unemployment Divide - Unemployment is about 41 percent and is particularly bad amongst young South Africans.

2) Inequality Divide - income inequality has not improved over the last twelve years of democracy and by some accounts has even become worse.

3) Poverty Divide – There are roughly 11 million South Africans living in extreme poverty, equating to over 30 percent of our population.

4) Capital/labour divide - There has been a 40 percent decline in labour intensity over the last three decades. It is not just economic growth that South Africa needs, but labour intensive growth.

5) Big Business/Small Business Divide – South Africa has a high level of vertical and horizontal integration in ownership patterns. This is making it difficult for small businesses to enter the market.

6) Declining investment – Private investment has fallen from a level of 25 percent in the early 1980s to around 16 percent in 2004. Government investment has also fallen over the last 12 years from 4 percent of GDP to less than 2 percent.

7) Infrastructural divide - Infrastructural divides must be bridged if all communities are to be given the opportunities to fully participate in the mainstream economy.

8) Skills Divide - There is a huge skills mismatch in the economy, which the education and training sector has to address if we are to move forward as an economy.

9) Divide between Government and the People - While the ANC believes in State-centred development and the DA believes in market led development, the ID believes in people centred development. It is clear to the Independent Democrats that while both the State and the market are essential actors in development they are inadequate in achieving our developmental objectives unless the enormous capacity of our people is unlocked and built upon.

10) Unsustainable Economic Growth –Current investment decisions do not factor in natural resource constraints.

11) Lack of Social Cohesion - For South Africa to succeed it is imperative that we build social cohesion and trust between all our citizenry.

ID Solutions

• As a party with a social democratic ideology, the ID firmly maintains that the market mechanism must be allowed to flourish within the economy, but that the government in partnership with the people must also play an active part in ensuring that the economy delivers on certain shared societal objectives.

On the Macro-Economic Framework
• Given such huge infrastructural, social and human development backlogs the ID maintains that the government must invest far more in human development.
• Budgetary spending can be increased while still keeping the deficit within manageable levels. This spending should be directed at the poor, which will in turn increase consumer demand in the country, spurring on both investment and growth.
• The ID will change the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank to develop a monetary policy that is not only conducive to inflation targeting but is also growth enhancing. Interest rates in South Africa have been far too high for a developing country and have in some instances choked off real investment in the economy.

On Industrial Policy
• The ID would institute a subsidy and tax break scheme that would provide incentives for businesses increasing their labour intensity.
• The ID would also introduce an Employment Impact Assessment for any new businesses on the basis of which they would qualify for tax breaks and credit subsidies.
• The ID would increase government Research and Development spend on certain key sectors so as to position ourselves as global leaders in these fields.
• The ID would stop subsidising wasteful government projects especially our Arms Manufacturing industry.

On Rural Development
• The ID would institute a Comprehensive Rural Development Programme.
• The ID would improve the pace and quality of land reform. We would institute proper post settlement support to enable new farmers to acquire the skills to turn their piece of land into a viable economic entity.
• ID will also put emphasis on supporting a subsistence plus model of agriculture which provides support and inputs to small scale farmers across South Africa.

On Social Security
• The Independent Democrats maintains that there are far too many gaps in our current social security system. Millions of South Africans who are living in dire poverty do not currently qualify for any form of social assistance. The ID would broaden the social security net.

On Model of Delivery
• ID firmly believes that communities have to be put at the centre of development and must not be treated as passive recipients of delivery.
• ID believes that development needs to be decentralised to the realm of the community and that government must then play a facilitating role by providing the necessary financial resources and advisory services.
• ID would streamline the channels for funds to be transferred to civil society organisations so that they are able to perform the functions that government is unable to.

On Sustainable Development
• The ID would start instituting a shift away from some of our most capital and energy intensive industries.
• The ID will position South Africa as the pioneers of a new form of sustainable development.

On the Public Service
• The ID will change the ethos and culture of the public sector so that it becomes a place whereby people view it as a privilege to work there.
• The ID would immediately set about building the pride of the civil service and removing the politics which has often made it unbearable for people to perform their jobs.
• The ID would also look to encourage the twin imperatives of transformation and excellence within the public service by ensuring that the right mix of innovative thinkers and solid workers are employed.

ID EDUCATION POLICY

Bridging the Divides through Education

ID’s Vision for Education

The ID’s vision for education is one where well resourced schools are at the centre of all communities, and are responsive to the broad educational needs of both children and adults. The terrible educational divides of the past are bridged with no one being forced to receive a sub-standard education. The ID’s vision is to place education at the centre of South Africa’s transformation agenda.

Current Challenges

The ID believes that there has to be an improvement in the functioning of our schools, many of which are clearly failing to equip our children with the necessary skills to cope with the demands of higher education and South Africa’s broader economy.

• There are still over 4000 schools without electricity and over 2500 schools without water and sanitation in our country. 4 in 5 schools in South Africa do not have any form of a library.
• There are still too many learners in South Africa who are being excluded or discriminated against as a result of their families being unable to pay school fees. Costs such as transport, textbooks, uniforms and nutrition are also a barrier.
• Our educational outcomes are still extremely poor, falling behind world and even standards of many poorer countries.
• There is a great divide in educational outcomes which correspond with poverty and race. Government’s “no fee schools” has been rolled out in a haphazard way.
• There is a massive teacher supply and skills shortage. As a result of the aparthied legacy, over 60 000 teachers in South Africa do not even have matric qualifications.
• Many schools have massively overcrowded classrooms and teachers have to teach in classrooms with eighty or more learners.
• The OBE system is massively resource intensive and requires teachers who are well equipped to implement it. The introduction of OBE has widened the divide in our education system, as less resourced schools have struggled to teach even the basics under the new system.
• Rural schools are often the most marginalised and suffer from a lack of infrastructure, teachers and a curriculum that is often inappropriate for their context. The problem of farm schools and learners being denied an education is still an ongoing problem.
• There are hundreds of thousands of children with disabilities in South Africa who are currently being denied an education. All children with disabilities need to immediately be given an education and stimulation that corresponds to their needs.
• Many of South Africa’s schools have become a site of extreme social problems including drugs, violence and teenage pregnancies.
• Many higher education institutions, in particular those that were historically disadvantaged, have struggled to maintain their financial viability. In addition, the State has not made available sufficient funds to assist students from poor communities to fund their studies.

ID’s Proposed Solutions

Prioritise School Infrastructure Development
Concessions must be granted in certain areas whereby the private sector and civil society is invited to tender on partnerships to deliver school infrastructure. Within two years every school in South Africa must have access to some form of energy. Within the same time period we would ensure that every school has access to water and sanitation services. Provide adequately resourced science and computer laboratories to every school within five years and ensure that all of them are linked up to a wireless internet service.

Child Education Grant
A Child education grant must be introduced which would be administered through the schools and district education officers. The ID believes that a learner from a poor community deserves to be funded no matter which school they choose to attend. The grant could also cover costs such as transport, uniforms and textbooks.

Expand the School Nutrition Programme
Expand the school nutrition programme to cover all secondary schools in poor communities. The programme must also operate over weekends as the hunger of a child is felt everyday. Food for the nutrition programme could be supplied by unemployed people in the surrounding community.

Bursary system for Teachers
Expand the bursary scheme for people wanting to study teaching as a profession.
Reintroduce Teacher Training Colleges across the country.

Teaching assistants
The ID would support a teacher assistants’ model whereby unemployed people from the surrounding community could be hired to assist in schools where the learner/teacher ratios are especially high. These teacher assistants could help enforce discipline.

Principal training
A comprehensive principal training programme imparting the appropriate skills needed to perform as a principal.

Improved management on a district level
Proper checks of schools must be conducted regularly with district officers responding to any needs. Proper monitoring and evaluation assessments at the classroom level to track the progress of our children’s educational outcomes. Assessments must be undertaken of all our teachers and those requiring skills development must be put on intensive courses. Teachers who do not possess the skills to deliver a quality education to our children must be trained or taken out of the system.

Inclusive Education
The ID maintains that the government has an absolute responsibility to provide every child with a disability an education or stimulation appropriate to their needs. The ID would build more special schools in the country. We would also provide mainstream education to as many children with disabilities as possible.

Schools as nodes of support and care
Schools must become the centre of all our communities where the broader social problems of children are identified by the educators and action is taken to address them. Every school must have a social worker or at the very least a child youth care worker. Services such as the delivery of grants and the registration of birth certificates and identity documents can take place at schools.

Provision of Higher Education Institutions in Rural Areas
Establish universities and universities of technologies in underserved rural areas.

Increase the Amount allocated to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme
The ID would bolster the amount of money being directed towards the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

ID HEALTH POLICY

Bridging the Health Divides

Challenges in the Health Sector

Health Policy has not been effectively implemented. Financial and human resources are sorely needed to achieve our policy ideals. Government officials need to be properly trained in understanding how to effectively empower communities.

Real per capita investment in health has declined by 14,1% between 1995 and 2002.The public health sector does not currently have the resources to provide satisfactory health care to the majority of South Africans who cannot afford medical aid. The number of people that are covered by medical aid is stagnating and as a percentage of the general population is actually declining. The increasing cost of private healthcare has exceeded inflation by so much that its high cost prevents it from growing anymore. There is currently no effective cooperation between the public and private sector aimed at improving the quantity and quality of healthcare received by the majority of South Africans.

There are huge inequities in the health system with only 34% of total health expenditure being public while 66% is private. The private sector has not been able to provide public health care on behalf of the state due to a closed ordering system that is not suitable for interaction with the private sector. The public sector therefore has to cope with the enormous strain caused by more and more people making use of its inadequate services.
There are only 35% of doctors catering for 35 million people in public health facilities; while 65% of doctors cater for the 7 million people who are covered by medical aid.

• The Independent Democrats believes not only in health care for all, but in adequate health care for all. Wide consultation within communities is needed to achieve equity of health services in order to determine which groups should be prioritized in policy action, as well as how much more preference they should receive compared to other groups.

On HIV/Aids
South Africa has the highest number of people infected with HIV and the prevalence is increasing. Many rape survivors are still not receiving free antiretroviral treatment due to government inaction.
• Effective Roll-Out of the ARV Programme: Government must reprioritize it’s spending by progressively investing in the provision of ARV’s and appointing and training the needed staff to treat HIV/AIDS patients.
• More Emphasis and Support for Community Health Care Workers: Auxiliary social workers like community workers and home-based carers also need to be supported and educated.
• Political will: The ID wants a national campaign where all senior government officials, members of parliament, etc. have themselves publicly tested (with the results remaining confidential)
• Government Resources: Every government ministry must have an AIDS directorate working with the Health Department in co-ordinating a national strategy.
• Treatment Awareness and Education: Current government programmes have clearly failed at stemming the tide of new infections and the ID would institute a complete overhaul.

On Rural Health Provision
There are massive urban-rural inequalities regarding access to health services.
Compulsory community service has failed to solve the staff problem in rural hospitals, with 83% of medical doctors still being placed in urban hospitals.
• Incentive payments for rural doctors.
• Establishment of a local government infrastructure fund to acquire the needed facilities to attract more doctors to rural towns.
• Social Counselling in rural areas must be enhanced and people educated on all aspects of health.
• Ambulances that have off-road capabilities must be urgently provided in all rural areas that do not have adequate road infrastructure.

On TB
The number of TB cases in South Africa has massively increased from 109 328 in 1996 to 255 773 in 2003. Cure and successful treatment rates are disappointing at 53, 9% and 67, 8%. There is a lack of transparency in the financial expenditure on TB. We have failed to address the conditions (i.e. poverty, lack of adequate sanitation, poor nutrition, etc) that serve as a breeding ground for the disease. HIV/AIDS is exacerbating the problem. Our health system is under-resourced to deal with TB and other similar diseases. Health providers are not implementing the TB programme effectively and TB patients fail because of their ignorance, delay in seeking care, non-adherence to or completion of treatment regimens.
• The Independent Democrats will unify laboratories under a national collaborative TB detection and treatment plan.
• Financial control of TB must be transparent.

On Child Health
According to a Medical Research Council (MRC) study in 2000, South Africa’s Infant mortality rates are 60/1000, and under five mortality rates are 95/1000.This means that every hour at least 10 children under the age of five die from a preventable condition.
Poor children suffer disproportionately with the poorest 20% of children being four times more likely to die before their fifth birthday compared to the richest 20% of South Africa’s children. If drastic action is not taken soon, South Africa will certainly miss its Millennium Development Goal target.
• All aspects of neo-natal care must be evaluated to reduce South Africa’s under-5 infant mortality rate.
• The delivery of basic municipal services such as water and sanitation must be improved in order for many child illnesses to be prevented.
• The Independent Democrats call for child and youth desks to be available in all government departments to deal with the health and well-being of children and youth in a holistic way.
• The Independent Democrats also supports the active engagement of civil society on policy reform concerning the state of child deaths. This must be carried out by Parliament on an annual basis.
• PMTCT: There must be programmes put in place to encourage all pregnant women to seek counseling and testing for HIV with appropriate information and access to PMTCT being made available. Adequate support and treatment must also be provided after the birth of the baby.

On Disability
ID believes that we need to shift our focus on disabled people as “poor helpless individuals” to addressing the factors in society that continue to exclude and marginalise people with disabilities.
• The ID calls for properly trained staff to be appointed in the public health sector to assist the disabled with proper medical care and rehabilitation.
• More assistive devices and wheelchairs must be made available, especially in rural areas.
• More occupational therapists and physiotherapists need to be deployed to rural areas along with the proper specialized equipment that they need.
• There must be better administration of the Workman’s Compensation Fund and the Road Accident Fund.
• A National health audit must be conducted to evaluate the extent of accessibility to clinics for the disabled.
• ID will also call on government to ensure that patients with spinal cord injuries receive adequate health care and rehabilitation.

ID POLICY ON HUMAN SECURITY:
Bridging the Divides by Building Safer Communities

Vision of the Independent Democrats

Human security sees democracy, human rights, sustainable development, social equity and the elimination of poverty all as essential elements of security.

The ID believes that true human security can only be achieved through realizing all of the rights contained within our constitution.

Present Challenges

Crime is at such a high level that it impacts on every South African and continues to divide our communities through fostering fear.

ID argues that central to this problem is the failure of the organs of justice to function together. There is an urgent need for a full and comprehensive reform of the entire justice system.

Some serious crimes have increased in the last 2 years, including rape, cash-in-transit robberies, truck hijacking and robbery at business premises.

South Africa is still ranked by the UNODC as having a “high” level of crime in terms of international comparisons and our murder rate is roughly eight times the world average of 5.5.

Failings in the Criminal Justice System
The ID believes that justice delayed is justice denied. There is also unequal access to the courts.

The police service needs specialised training.

There are huge capacity problems within our forensic laboratories.

Morale of the police service is extremely low and adequate and appropriate psychological counselling is not being provided.

Many jails and prisons are grossly overcrowded.

Many South Africans are also languishing in jail for up to two years waiting for their trials to come to court.

The Department of Correctional Services has also failed miserably in its responsibility to rehabilitate inmates. Unofficial statistics show that in excess of 80% of those released from prison become re-offenders.

ID Solutions

National Crime Summit
Government’s plans to fight crime often fail because it draws them up alone.
The ID believes that a National Crime Summit must therefore be convened as a matter of urgency. The law-abiding majority can all take responsibility for finding solutions to the problems created by a criminal minority.

Government Departments held Accountable for Crime Prevention
Government departments such as social development, sport and recreation, housing and others should be given measurable indicators of crime prevention strategies and must be held accountable for implementing them. The multidimensional aspects of crime require interventions from both the criminal justice system as well as broader social interventions.

Counting the Cost of Alcohol Abuse
A thorough costing study must be done of alcohol and its linkages to crime. There must be effective enforcement of the laws on underage drinking with the police taking a firmer and consistent line.

Improve the functioning of the Criminal Justice System
The ID would institute a proper assessment of all three tiers of the criminal justice system, namely safety and security, justice and correctional services.

• Provision of Accurate Crime Statistics on a Regular Basis.
• Visible Policing.
• Provide adequate funding for Community Policing Forums.
• Provide more Policing for Rural Areas.
• Greater Regional and International Cooperation is needed in fighting such scourges as the trafficking in women and children and the international drug trade.
• education of our legal system at a school level.
• The independence of the judiciary must be respected
• Magistrates and prosecutors must not be trained together.
• Assistance must be provided by the State for legal representation in civil, criminal and human rights abuses.
• Bail laws need to be revised and night courts need to be re-introduced.
• The justice system should be re-orientated along the lines of investigation-driven arrests.
• The justice system must process cases far more efficiently. Alternatives to incarceration for less serious offences.
• Prisons must become a place for rehabilitation of criminals rather than universities of crime.
• Build adequate places of safety for children.

Build Safe and Caring Communities
Invest in our youth and give them opportunities to thrive in life. We must build a different value system whereby the quality of human relations is valued more than our material goods. We need to build caring communities whereby neighbours look out for each other and women and children are respected and cared for rather than abused. Only in this way will we break the cycle of violence that is spurring on South Africa’s high crime rate. The ID is committed to working with all communities in building the badly needed social cohesion and bridging the divides that the fear of crime has wrought on our society.

ID Policy on Bridging the Gender Divide

The ID believes in the meeting and respecting of all cultures and gender, not in adopting a dominant culture or gender. Women must be equal to men in all spheres of society and throughout all of our legislation.

On Education
Advice and rhetoric on gender equity in education has not been put into effective implementation. Girls remain discriminated against in schools and in some cases sexually exploited by male teachers and other male learners. Girls are also frequently the first to be removed from school as a result of financial difficulties in the home.
• Implementation of the recommendations of the Gender Equity Task Team.
• Gender activism need to be refreshed in education through cooperation on all levels.
• Gender disparities need to be identified in schools and a number of social workers need to put in place in each school. Schools with more identifiable disparities should have an increased number of social workers.
• There must be Child Education Grants or private sponsorship to enable girls to have as much access to education as boys.

On Rural Women
Women continue to have secondary land rights to men, as well as secondary rights in the general community and the household. The loss of traditional systems has made the load on rural women even larger.
• The ID believes in directly working with women on micro-credit initiatives in agricultural development.
• Partnership between government and private industry to enter into competitive markets.
• Increased infrastructure that can help provide for entrepreneurship and job creation.
• Investment of time on the grass-roots level in order to have a practical understanding of the issues confronting women in rural areas.

Female Headed Households
In Female-headed household women carry the burdens of the unemployment crisis and others on their own without the physical and social resources that are required.
• Female-headed households must qualify for grants and micro-credit loans and initiatives.
• The Child Support Grant must be extended to all children under 18.

Migration of women
Rural women often move to informal urban settlements because they have little opportunities in rural areas. Land in urban areas is hardly ever allocated to poorer women though.
• Land must be equally allocated to men and women. Women’s rights should be entrenched in rural and urban areas by the increase of previously mentioned initiatives.

Maintenance
Despite the introduction of the 1998 Maintenance Act. Applicants, Law Centre’s and NGO’s are often faced with obstacles when trying to claim maintenance. The Act is often narrowly interpreted by the courts, which has resulted at times in secondary victimization.
• Alter the relationship between the private maintenance system and support grants. The State must pay the maintenance and the fathers must pay the state this way mothers will be sure to get their maintenance every month. The installation of a Maintenance Bridging Fund must be set up by the state to ensure the failures which happen in the current system do not reoccur.
• The ID believes in setting up a People Against Misuse (PAM) to ensure that state resources are used in the correct way and that children and not mothers are the ones to benefit from maintenance.

Women Abuse
Government continues to be inadequate in enforcing the constitutional rights of women and girls when it comes to women abuse. From the age of schooling and throughout the rest of their lives women are faced with the reality of abuse. It affects women of all ages, class and race and is violent, humiliating and often sexual in nature.
• Police Officers, Nurses, Counsellors, Social Workers, Psychologists etc. must have a representative of people who are chosen to deal with women abuse. The relations between all representatives must be improved.
• Schools and education must be the first port of call in working towards the elimination of women abuse, through educating girls on their rights.

Health
HIV/AIDS infection is still on the increase and women continue to be more susceptible to the disease. Government programmes have little or no evidence of actually fighting the virus and improving the reproductive health of women.
• An entire overhaul of the media campaigns as they have not had effect and for new programmes that have government and leaders at the forefront.
• Sexual Health must be a standard part of the National Curriculum.
• Further research needs to be done into the understanding of the virus and why women are more susceptible than men and what they can do in the future to prevent the prevalence amongst women.
• Female Condoms must be promoted and provided at Public Health Clinics

Employment
Women continue to fall through the employment cracks and they remain the poorest of the poor with added reproductive and domestic burdens. This is a result of many women continuing to be unskilled.
• Diplomas and other initiatives in partnership with the private sector and the state must be provided to equip women with skills.
• Affirmative Action and BEE needs to be constantly reviewed to ensure that they are achieving their aims.

ID HOUSING POLICY:

Bridging the Divides by Building Sustainable Communities

Challenges

Only 1, 8% of the total government expenditure is dedicated to housing.
One of the biggest problems in the housing sector is mobilizing finance for low cost housing. Those earning slightly more than R3 500 per month battle to get private sector top-up funding. Savings, formal credit and private sector investments have not been mobilized enough to supplement the subsidy of those persons who do qualify for one. The poor are also often the victims of commercial micro-credit and traditional loan schemes.
At this point in time rental housing is very expensive in South Africa, leading to overcrowding in flats and people living in backyard shacks. This issue is not recognized in the Housing White Paper.
People that reside in better-developed areas tend to be very antagonistic toward the development of low cost housing in their areas as they believe it will have a negative impact on the rates base of the area. The housing subsidies also do not cover better areas and this causes a transport problem for many workers.
Beneficiaries and/or local government still aren’t empowered enough, since orientations are made and implemented in a top-down fashion. And it is for this reason that productive, mutually empowering state partnerships between the state and civil society do not feature as they should in housing projects.
Everybody is not benefiting from the housing subsidies as they should because of fraud and corruption.
Some beneficiaries are also forced to sell their houses for extra income due to their inability to maintain their homes.
The Housing backlog is still widening due to rapid urbanization. The number of dwellings classified as "inadequate" (mostly shacks) has grown 20% from 1,5-million in 1996 to 1,8-million in 2001. Housing delivery in South Africa needs to double from the current delivery rate of about 250 000 housing units a year to 500 000 units if the backlog is to be removed.
The government’s new housing policy still puts the focus on quantity and not quality of housing.

ID Solutions

Delivery of houses should be done according to the original housing lists. The ID wants a comprehensive audit of houses already allocated, and people that still are on the waiting lists. Housing waiting lists must be transparent so that communities can monitor the application process.
In some municipalities housing waiting lists are non-existent, and the ID will call for its restoration and a comprehensive audit of the housing need in the particular municipality.

All housing sites must be serviced by government over and above the subsidy, where the subsidy will then be used for the top structure only in order to build a better dwelling. The land must be provided free of charge.
All housing must be energy efficient and have solar water heaters installed so as to reduce the energy costs of the household.
Government should not only build houses, but build communities where there are schools, clinics and other important infrastructure such as proper drainage systems and roads.

On the People’s Housing Process (PHP)
To date, only 10% of all housing delivery has occurred through the PHP. The Independent Democrats wants this programme to be massively expanded.
In this process families are the key decision makers and their skills are seen as the primary resource. Minimum intervention from the state but maximum support is another key feature of this program, along with the fact that families have the maximum choice available.
- PHP ensures that housing delivery takes place in a participatory way.
- The home owner is more conscious of their house as an asset.
Current barriers to this expansion are major policy constraints that include government officials concentrating on the numbers only instead of the development gains that come with the process.
Community trusts should be formed through newly established community institutions or existing NGOs. The trust would then decide which PHP option would work best for its community and obtain the necessary support needed in terms of skills that would be relevant to the project (i.e. builders, accountants, managers, etc.).
On Rental Housing
Rental accommodation can offer the poor a flexible and convenient form of shelter, especially for those who migrate circularly as well as those who cannot bear the costs of living on the outskirts of cities.
The Independent Democrats believe that the government needs to speedily formulate and implement rental housing as a core housing provision measure. With the already gigantic backlog growing bigger by the day it is clear that drastic measures are needed with much more state support. The housing crises have vast social consequences for the South African society and bring about immense developmental challenges, including water and sanitation, environmental challenges, and health challenges.
- Municipalities must target zones for housing that would fit into their Integrated Development Plans. Capital subsidies would have to be obtained from the provincial government and other needed finance would be accessed from the Renewal Debt Program.
- Municipalities would be required to encourage investments into these development zones with planning and rates concessions, and public investment in the environment.
- Subsidies from local authorities would reduce the rents of poor families.
- Hostels must be reconstructed into family units.

On Integrating our communities and Bridging the Divides
It is high time that South Africa follows the global trend of having rich and poor communities living together so that we can bridge the divides and build the sorely needed social cohesion.

ID SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Bridging the Poverty Divide

The proportion of people living in poverty in South Africa has not changed significantly between 1996 and 2001. Households that live in poverty have moved deeper into poverty while the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. In 2001, approximately 57% of individuals were living below the poverty income line. The most vulnerable groups are: (a) rural poor, (b) female-headed households, (c) people with disabilities, (d) farm workers, (e) AIDS orphans and households with AIDS sufferers, and (f) children.

On Grants and Social Workers
Approximately 60% of the poor, mostly aged between fourteen and sixty do not receive any social security at all. A comprehensive social security net must be put in place throughout South Africa. ID would advocate the implementation of a Minimum Income Grant which would ensure that every individual in South Africa has a minimum income to live off.

• The ID believes that the most vulnerable and deserving of State assistance often don’t receive it because of bureaucratic obstacles. The ID therefore advocates for obstacles such as acquiring documents from Home Affairs and complying with Means Test Requirements must be significantly reduced.
• Pensions must be increased in line with the cost of living and not just inflation. The pension age for men must immediately be reduced from 65 to 60.
• The Child Support Grant must immediately be extended to all children under the age of 18.
• An extensive recruitment campaign must be run for social workers as there is a dire need for them in South Africa.
• More Child and Youth Care workers must be trained from communities.

On the Rural Poor
• Invest in the Prime Movers of Agricultural Development, i.e. investment in human capital, agricultural research, biophysical capital formation, and rural institutions.
• SA must focus on removing the barriers to market for small scale rural farmers by providing roads, irragation, seeds and implements.
• Strategies must be developed to cater for those rural people that are interested in non-farm activities as well
• Farming strategies for the different farming practices are needed to ensure that each farming area is assisted to reach its agricultural potential.
• ID will interact with the indigenous people of South Africa and ensure that we develop and harness the indigenous knowledge of their traditions and cultures.

On Farm Workers
Farm workers are so geographically remote they are often the last social constituency that government agencies reach.

Alcohol consumption among farm workers are about twice as high as those living in urban areas. This excessive use of alcohol often leads to serious social and health consequences.

• Legislation pertaining to farming needs to be reviewed.
• Services need to be improved. Capital subsidies, tax incentives and logistical assistance to landowners and farmers could help with improving service delivery to farm workers.
• Farm workers’ involvement in equity share schemes must be promoted more vigorously.
• Accommodation must be provided to all farm workers evicted.
• Improve rural women’s knowledge of improved agricultural practices and crop varieties.
• All alcoholic advertisements need to be banned from the public media as a means to stop promoting the use of alcohol.

On Female Headed Households
Women are being forced to carry their burdens without either the essential physical or social resources. If women’s access to and power over land can be increased through land reform, and if this can be maintained to become an effective anti-poverty advantage for poor rural women particularly, then rural development can start from the bottom.

The disintegration of the traditional family support network results in poor rural women faced with the necessity of earning a wage or producing food to avoid their children from starving.
The maintenance system needs to be improved where the state must pay the maintenance owed to the mother, and the father of the child must give his monthly contribution to the state. This way, mothers will get their maintenance every month and fathers will be compelled to refund the state.

On Child-Headed Households
Children between the ages of 15 and 18 are still left out of the social security system.
It is estimated that by 2015, one third of South Africa’s children that are under the age of 18 will have lost one or both parents due to HIV/Aids. However, families’ capacity to care for such children has been negatively affected by the high levels of HIV/AIDS-related deaths, and the deep poverty that currently characterises much of South African society. Extended family units therefore need more support if it is to meet these children’s needs in full.

• The extension of the CSG must not be phased in but implemented immediately and made available to Child-headed households.
• A Basic Package of Services for children must be made available for all children. The package would include exemption from payment of school fees, feeding schemes for children and free primary, secondary and tertiary health care.
• A National Food Security Programme must be implemented to strengthen existing programmes that aim to address malnutrition among children and rolling out new initiatives such as offering incentives and know-how for families growing food gardens.
• Programmes such as community-based home care and no-fee schools should be widened.

On People with Disabilities
There is a great need for the disability grant to be increased, or complimented with a MIG. The disabled residing in rural areas often spend their entire disability grant on transport costs to get to a health care facility, with the consequence of them not having any money left for anything else. Transport, especially public transport, as well as accessible housing also needs to be addressed.

• More assistive devices for the disabled, i.e. wheelchairs and other aids for all.
• More care attendants for care and support, in the form of trained community workers or volunteers.
• Accessible housing and public transport.