Land Party's SONA expectations

The LAND Party expects the following from the State Of The Nation Address :

1. LAND — The president must announce the date for a Land referendum, as the current Land Expropriation Bill is not a pragmatic solution to the Land question. The referendum question is 'Do you, as a law-abiding citizen of South Africa, support land expropriation without compensation? Vote Yes or No'. A referendum will be a lasting solution.

The farmers must give portions of the land in their possession to farmworkers, instead of having productive farms expropriated and given to the corrupt political elite, their families, and friends, who do not have interest in agriculture and farming.

The government must enforce collective farming and no individual must be allowed to own more than 53 hectares of Land. The people must work the land as a group.

Farms that are currently owned by trusts must invest in surrounding communities by means of supporting Early Childhood Development programs, offering scholarships, and building homes for the surrounding communities.

SECURE PROPERTY RIGHTS IN LAW and guarantee that it will remain intact for at least 50 years.

2. CREATE JOBS — Open all closed factories in places like Dimbaza and Umtata etc… Export more local goods than we import.

3. ENSURE BASIC LIVELIHOODS –Financial support for the South African people who are unemployed with R1500 for each person, increase the old age grant by R1000, and disability grants by R500.

4. PROTECT MARKET PLAYERS – small and medium-sized businesses, who are contributing positively to our economy by creating jobs in South Africa need financial support from the government to stay alive and to kickstart their businesses again.

All businesses and business owners who invest all their profits back into the country must get tax incentives and pay lower tax.

Companies with 100% local staff must receive incentives like free water, electricity, or lower taxes.

Foreign investors must only be allowed to operate and do business only if they employ locals.

We must encourage our people to work for themselves by creating platforms for small businesses to operate without complicated business registration processes.

Lower corporate and personal taxes to a flat 15%, like Mauritius has done, and guarantee that it will remain like that for the next 50 years.

5. FOOD AND ENERGY – Commercial and small-scale farming must be subsidised.

Encourage communities to contribute to food security by producing their own food by providing adequate support to small scale farmers.

Each household must have a vegetable garden and the Department of Agriculture must assist them with seeds, soil, and tools.

We must boost our Energy production by means of renewable energy, wind, and hydrogen.

5. STABILITY OF THE INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY CHAIN – different countries in different regions have plans to localize their supply chain. South Africa must be self-reliant to prevent dramatic supply gaps internally and strive to keep global supply chains open.

The LAND Party proposed a Lockdown plan that was going to save our economy, but you Mr President ignored the LAND Lockdown plan and now you want to use the Covid-19 as a scapegoat. It is the policies of the ruling party that brought suffering to the millions of people in our country, particularly the poor, and the working class. The LAND Party gave you solutions on how to manage Lockdown. One of the suggestions was to allow businesses to operate fully, but for businesses to deliver to households.

The following was the LAND Party’s Lockdown plan Mr President :

We asked you to keep workers away from work while receiving full salary and let them do work at home.

Government should place a moratorium on the payment of taxes (PAYE, VAT etc.), rent, water, gas, and electricity for companies.

Pubs, Clubs, and Restaurants close while selling takeaways.

Close schools and Tertiary institutions until June 2021.

Release non-violent prisoners.

Strictly ban all religious or any form of gathering.

Clinics must be closed and government must introduce mobile clinics. Also, delivery of all chronic medication to the patients at their homes.

Retail stores must deliver food and household items to avoid large numbers of consumers in the shops.

Give free sanitizers to the previously disadvantaged communities and poor households.

No staff may be fired until CCMA is equipped with staff and technology to hold virtual hearings. They can be suspended with full pay until a hearing can take place.

Local municipalities must provide a safe place that is equipped with technology to facilitate virtual hearings/press.

The website https://www.breakyourownnews.com/ must be shut down with immediate effect.

District-level data must be provided with immediate effect.

Businesses must stop “letting people go” and do the admin to utilize the relief packages the government has put in place.

Local municipalities must utilize technology and radio to implement public participation processes in day-to-day business. They cannot simply ban the public due to the Coronavirus.

There must be a moratorium on the passing of any by-laws, sale of state property, implementation of any strategic plans, and any other day-to-day government business that requires public participation.

The governing party decided to implement a hard Lockdown without any economic recovery plan and now, as we speak, over 30 million people are living without income or food. The LAND Party refuses to accept the nonsensical argument that the pandemic has caused distress in our economy, it is you and your party Mr President. The looting and the political infighting within your party is solely to blame. It would be a great thing for you to acknowledge this in your State of the Nation Address and tell the people of South Africa what you are actually doing about it.