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Introduction
Love your neighbour as yourself. If we keep ourselves honest to this objective, all that is wrong in this country, and the world, will be repaired.
As our name “Social Technocrats” implies, we are, first of all, an organization with a strong “Social” bias. Our responsibility is first and foremost to the people. All the people! We also believe in a Technocratic government, where the leaders in government are individuals with a strong track record as leaders in their respective industries. We believe that to serve the people, we need to free the people. We want to give the people more freedom, more responsibility and complete control over their own destiny. It is government’s responsibility to make sure that there is nothing preventing hard-working individuals to take their destiny into their own hands and live the lives they want to live
We seek to create a government that governs. It does not manage. Government should put in place, laws and regulation that not only ensures peace, law and order, but does as much as possible to create an environment where private businesses can thrive, delivering goods and services to the citizens at affordable prices. It is important to understand that government does not create jobs, the economy does, and the economy is driven by the private sector.
South Africa is a beautiful and diverse country, filled with many cultures and religions. I believe that this diversity is what makes us strong. Like any sports team as players of various skills and strengths. It does not matter how much we love Siya Kolisi, or Eben Etzebeth, if the team was filled only with players with the skills of either of these two brilliant players, the team will suffer. Therefore, I truly believe that celebrating our differences is what will unite us in the end. Alternatively, forcing an artificial merger of these diverse cultures is simply pushing us further and further apart. I will take this so far as to say, that we need to have a new national anthem, written and composed by artists from all walks of life. This anthem must be translated into all spoken languages in our beautiful country. I dream of standing in the crowd at Loftus, with 65000 people all singing the same anthem at the top of their voice, in their own language. Pulling us together by accepting our differences! What a beautiful sight.
Accountability By Design
In order to ensure that government does everything in its power to provide quality services to the people, appointed officials at both national and provincial level may not make use of:
· Private Healthcare
· Private Security
· Private Schooling
These services should be provided for by the state, and what is good enough for the people must be good enough for elected officials.
Applying for a position in government, implies you have a heart to serve this country, not to enrich yourself. It implies you will be willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the country. Individuals who are not willing to make these sacrifices should not apply for government positions.
This does not apply to district and municipality level, as accountability begins at the top.
Full Transparency
Government functions will be run like private companies, pushing efficiencies and cost-effectiveness. All senior positions are appointed through a fully transparent interview process. Qualification and experience are the paramount metrics to be used in the appointment of these positions.
The positions to which this must apply can be refined, currently this would pertain to positions like
· Home Affairs branch managers
· Hospital administrators
· Municipal managers
· School principals
· etc.
It does not apply to
· Police station commanders.
· Military
The provincial minister of police has the prerogative to deploy station commanders to hot spots as he/she deems appropriate.
Financial Accountability.
Automated systems must be put in place that will put in full view to the public, all spending by all government departments, down to the municipal level. We live in the information age, we need to make all government information available to the public for them to hold us accountable.
· Every time the facilities administrator at the municipal office in Putsonderwater buys a roll of toilet paper, this transaction must be made public.
· All funds received b any department, must be visible on the same system.
· As the Social Technocrats, we will reject anonymous donations, and all donations will be made public.
· All donations, must be made by means of an electronic transfer. No cash shall ever be accepted.
· No single donation of more than R5000 per month or R60000 per year will be accepted. Singular large donors erode the autonomy of a political part/movement.
· Salary information for all management positions in government will be public information. Working for government is a form of service, and as a servant of the state, your salary is paid by the taxpayer not by government, making the taxpayer your employer. The employer is entitled to know what their employees are being paid.
Responsibilities of the state
Education
Grade 1-12 should be free for all citizens, regardless of economic background. All public schools should have the same resources, all provided by the state, regardless of economic stance of the surrounding area. Currently, in South Africa, funding giving by the department of basic education to public schools, has an inverse relationship to the economic class of the surrounding area, thus schools in affluent areas receive very little support from the department, whereas rural and township schools receive a lot more. We believe this is fundamentally wrong and discriminatory at its core. A maximum child to educator ratio of 35 to 1 in all public schools around
the country.
Regulation for the creation of private schools should be relaxed, so long as the school presents the government supplied syllabus. Government will also perform routine inspection on private schools, ensuring the standard of education and the safety of the children. It is in the government’s interest to have more learners in a private schooling system.
Physical and Mental Healthcare
Primary healthcare should be affordable, but not free to everybody. Low income households will be eligible for a National Health Grant. If you need to see a doctor or get a procedure that is required to maintain quality of life, the procedure will be paid for by the state, in any hospital.
In general private healthcare is unjustifiably expensive, and there is much manipulation by hospitals to do unnecessary tests/procedures purely because of a lack of control and governance from the medical aids, who simply pay when the right forms are completed. Therefore, a comprehensive list of procedures and treatments with the approved rates that qualify for NHG payments must be compiled by suitably qualified medical and other clinical professionals. Private hospitals will be required to only charge the approved rates for these procedures.
Water and Sanitation
Access to clean drinking water is a right. It is not a right to have it in your house, enough to water your garden and wash your car. This becomes a privilege, and is to be paid for. The same counts for sanitation services. In informal settlements, while they still exist, the state must ensure that all people have access to proper sanitation services. Every toilet in every home however must be taxed by means of residential rates and taxes/levies, as this is a privilege, not a right.
Policing and Criminal Justice System.
South Africa has a beautifully crafted constitution. Our bill of rights is an example to countries around the world. However, protecting the rights enshrined in our constitution is the challenge. The simple answer to that would be that, the moment any action by person A, denies or infringes on any of the rights protected in the constitution of person B, that right must be removed from person A. For example, if you steal something, you have denied somebody the right to own property, hence your right to own property of similar value must be removed. If you cannot compensate appropriately, you will need to serve a sentence in a correctional institution where you will perform tasks/works to repay your debt. Your debt is not simply repaid by going to jail. It requires action from your side. This must be enforced all the way from the smallest crime, to the largest, i.e. rape and murder. If you denied somebody’s right to life, you have forfeited your own right to life and the death penalty is appropriate. We will also argue, that if you rape a child, you have denied that child the right to a quality life. If legal and mental healthcare professionals do not come to the conclusion that this justifies the death penalty, then it would at least be appropriate for the maximum term in a maximum security, hard labour facility.
Foreigners, found guilty of crimes in our country, are deported and handed over to officials of their home countries. They must not become a burden on our taxpayers by incarcerating them in our prisons. Once convicted and deported, they can never enter South Africa again. If the crime was severe, and there is no reasonable confidence that the criminal’s home country will hand down appropriate punishment, a case can be made for that person to be incarcerated in South Africa. However, this must be the exception, for only the worst crimes.
No argument for the rights of a convicted criminal can ever trump the rights of law-abiding citizens.
Public Enterprises (Dept. name to be reviewed)
State owned businesses should be avoided where possible. Services that private industry are able to deliver effectively and efficiently, should be outsourced. Contracts shall be reviewed annually, creating a competing environment between service providers, driving down costs and pushing up service delivery. In areas where it is not in the country’s best interest to make use of private service providers, or in cases where no suitable service provider exists yet, for example power generation and arms manufacturing, these state-owned enterprises must be operated with the same objectives as private companies, i.e. to be profitable. Profits made by these entities will be pushed back into public programs like education, healthcare, security etc.
Let’s take an example where it is appropriate for the state to step in.
A remote town is in need of a good hospital/clinic. A tender is put out to the private sector to build and run the facility. Government may offer, in full, or part of the funds required to establish the facility in the form of a loan to the chosen company to build the facility as well as start-up operating capital. This is a loan however, and needs to be repaid as with any bank. Because there is no confidence that there is enough of a market for a private firm to invest, no suitable tender applications are received.
The state then builds the facility, and appoints the required medical and other personnel. The NHG will pay for patients that cannot afford treatment. Over time, the facility may prove to be profitable, and if a suitable offer to purchase from a private healthcare provider is received, government will sell the facility as a business unit, at a profit, again re-investing that profit into the economy. If the business is not profitable, will remain under state control, and the state will perform it’s so social responsibility of funding high quality healthcare for the people.
If a private company was chosen to build and operate the facility, files for bankruptcy because the hospital/clinic did not perform as expected, government will seize the assets of the company, as well as the facility, and take over managing it, hopefully restoring it to profitability and selling it as in the previous example.
Under this department also falls the responsibility that currently mainly falls under the competition commission. This department should monitor competitive practices by the private sector to prevent collusion and price fixing by competing companies. Government should however be the referee on the field, not a player.
Financial records of all government owned businesses must be published in real-time at all times
Military.
It is essential for the state to have a strong, and respected military. It is the military’s responsibility to patrol and secure our borders. Persons found entering our country at unofficial border crossings, will be assumed to be hostile and will be treated as such. The military will ensure peace and stability in our neighbouring countries. Political instability of our neighbours have a direct and severe impact on our country. Our country currently sustains millions of our brothers and sisters from other African countries, because their governments have failed them. This places a disproportionate burden on our social systems.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, defines the iron triangle of peace as follows:
The first priority of the state is to create economic power. This allows it to fund a powerful military. These two combined gives the state political/diplomatic power.
When you have achieved this, you can influence global discourse. South Africa, with its people and resources, should be in a position where we determine our own destiny when it comes to geopolitical matters. We should not ever have to “play nice” with “larger powers” for a seat at the table or.
Immigration and Voting
Any naturally born South African has the right to vote once they reach the age of 18.
Our borders will be open to any of our African brothers and sisters. No visa or passport application is required. The only requirement is that they enter our country trough official border crossings, where biometric identification (a combination of fingerprint, facial recognition, retina/iris scans etc) will be taken. All these biometrics will be taken digitally and stored in a central, immigration database. Once the biometrics have been captured, an immigration identity card is issued and the person is free to enter our country. An immigration amnesty process must also be established during which all current immigrants can get their immigration identity card. After the amnesty period has expired, all undocumented foreigners will be deported after their biometrics are captured, and placed in a blacklist, preventing them from re-entering the country.
Any foreign national, that actively participates in our economy to the extent that their annual gross income is greater than that income tax threshold, also has the right to affect economic policy, by voting in the national elections.
Only foreign nationals that contribute to our economy in a meaningful way qualify for citizenship, regardless of the period that they reside in our country.
Any foreign national, who’s business turnover is more than 10 million Rand per year (amount to be reviewed), and employs at least 10 people (number to be reviewed), qualify for full citizenship should they choose to apply.
Convicted persons, where it was deemed appropriate for them to be removed from society by incarceration, have also forfeited the right to vote. Convicted persons convicted of lesser crimes, where punishments like house arrest or travel restrictions are applied, but they are still part of society, do still have the right to vote.
Home affairs/Social Development
These functions should be privatized, however there must be multiple service providers, creating competition and driving down costs. Government’s responsibility starts and ends with the actual printing of official documents like ID cards and passports. This is to help prevent falsification of documents.
All citizens will have digitized biometric identification. If you lost your ID card, it should only be required to verify your identity via your biometrics, pay a fee and your new card should be on its way. Digital systems ensuring very every card is linked with only a single biometric profile, will also prevent document forgery
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