Manifestos
National Elections Manifesto
Many Things to Do
1 May 1999
This Manifesto covers many things the ANC will do in the next 5 years.
But there are many more things that do not appear here. Why?
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- because the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) outlines our broad programme for changing South African society. It remains the only relevant detailed programme to carry SA to freedom and social justice.
- because the South African Constitution provides the broad framework within which we will carry out this programme of change. There is no need to change this basic framework. If improvements are needed, we shall co-operate with others to make them.
- because at this very moment, each aspect of this Manifesto is being elaborated into concrete steps. We are consulting with our allies, communities, social movements, role-players and experts to ensure we begin to implement our programme from Day One of the new government.
The great progress we have made in the last 5 years gives us the base from which, together, we will be able to change our society and improve the lives of our people faster than ever before.
The ANC is the principal political force in South Africa with experience of democratic government and detailed plans for the transformation of our country into a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous democracy. These plans have been spelt out in detail and tested in practice.
MANY THINGS TO DO
To carry out all these measures requires a committed ANC and a determined government. But our programme also requires millions of South Africans mobilised and united in our common resolve to deal with even the most difficult problems.
We need a new patriotism. This requires communities that unite, forging partnerships to address their problems, without waiting for orders or hand-outs from elsewhere. It requires citizens who love their country and are determined to see it succeed. A commitment to invest in our people and in our country.
It demands discipline and a better work ethic from all of us; morality in the handling of public resources; humanity in relating with one another even in the private domain; responsibility in exercising our freedoms.
The ANC, led by a new generation of leaders, will strive with all its strength to ensure that these programmes are realised. We will ensure that all of us enjoy the freedoms for which many generations sacrificed so much. But we will, in these 5 years, also seek to provide the kind of firm leadership that is necessary for us to meet our objectives as a nation.