AZAPO MANIFESTO ROOTED IN BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS AS MABOWA IS ANNOUNCED AS MAYORAL CANDIDATE
AZAPO’s Tshwane Mayoral candidate Kings Mabowa
By AZAPO
AZAPO President Nelvis Qekema launched his party’s Local Government Elections Manifesto which is rooted in Black Consciousness tradition at the weekend and announced Kings Mabowa as the party’s Tshwane Mayoral candidate.
“What is the relevance of Black Consciousness at Municipal level and what does Black Consciousness have to do with the issue of potholes, or providing water, electricity, housing, Municipal budgets and waste removal?” asked Qekema somewhat rhetorically before proceeding to answer the aforeasaid questions himself as follows:
” Everything…because Black Consciousness is ultimately about who possesses the power to change the conditions of Black life…Black Consciousness has never been merely about describing oppression, it is also about restoring agency, dignity, confidence and making people understand that they possess within themselves the capacity to change their living conditions,” said Qekema.
” For AZAPO, therefore, the people are not helpless beneficiaries waiting for the government to rescue them; they are not statistics; they are not voting cattle; they are not spectators but they are instead authors of their own liberation and own development,” enthused Qekema
AZAPO’s Manifesto in essence entails the following:
1.RESTORATION OF AN HONEST AND ETHICAL GOVERNMENT
AZAPO holds that corruption steals much more than money because it also steals water, mobility on the roads and economic opportunity.
2.BUILDING CAPABLE AND PROFESSIONAL MUNICIPALITIES
AZAPO will fight against the destruction of municipal institutions caused by political interference and inappropriate appointments.
3.RESTORATION OF RELIABLE BASIC SERVICES
When services fail, communities must know what happened; what is being done about the problem and must know as to when the said problem will be resolved.
4.PROTECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE
South Africa has developed a dangerous habit of building infrastructure then neglecting it subsequently.
This must come to an end.
5.BUILDING LOCAL ECONOMIC POWER
A Municipality can’t call itself successful while unemployment surrounds its offices and Municipal economic development cannot consist merely of workshops, conferences and glossy strategies; it must create economic activity.
6.ADVANCEMENT OF FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
There is something fundamentally wrong with a society in which fertile land exists alongside hungry people and AZAPO believes communities must progressively build greater control over the system through which their food is produced and distributed.
7.BUILDING SAFE, HEALTHY AND INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES
Development means little if people are afraid to walk through their own neighbourhood; development means little when children grow up surrounded by drugs, violence and hopelessness.
Clinics and primary healthcare facilities must be accessible for 24 hours, 7 days a week.
8.INVESTING IN PEOPLE
The greatest resource of any municipality is its people and not its buildings, vehicle fleet or revenue base and AZAPO will therefore place human development at the centre of its development strategies.
9.PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE FUTURE
AZAPO will promote responsible waste management, water conservation and climate- resilient infrastructure by building communities capable not only of surviving today’s challenges, but also capable of protecting the inheritance of generations yet unborn.
10.RETURNING POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Democracy cannot end at the ballot box and AZAPO will therefore strive for communities that participate continuously in the decisions affecting their lives and will strengthen open and public accountability as secrecy protects failure while transparency protects the people.