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Polity
Article by: Sapa
Published: 09 Dec 2008
Cope unveils policies ahead of launch
The Congress of the People unveiled its draft policies on Tuesday ahead of the party's formal launch next week, and claimed to have drawn nearly half a million members since splintering from the ANC in late October.

Policy chief Smuts Ngonyama said the party's vision included reviving the economy by boosting industrial and agricultural production, improving education and healthcare and getting tough on crime.

"We have a very serious situation in that our economy is regressing," he said.

Ngonyama, a former communications boss for the ruling party, said the ANC government was to blame for the slowdown because it had allowed production to fall in favour of imports.

He said the sharp increase in imports in recent years, in areas ranging from footwear to food, "simply means that we have been exporting production".

It not only cost jobs but raised the spectre of a loss of skills and food security.

"We cannot build this nation and make it formidable if we don't deal with the question of unemployment, production and education."

He said Cope was shocked by the fact that only 1.5 percent of African learners were passing higher grade mathematics and was considering a call for schooling to be compulsory to the age of 16.

"If the majority of the people cannot participate meaningfully in the economy than production is going to suffer."

The Cope draft policy document, circulated to party structures last weekend, portrays the fledgling party as a centrist outfit aiming to achieve Nelson Mandela's vision of creating a cohesive, non-racial nation.

Ngonyama said Cope was in favour of increased state spending, both as a way of dealing with the global economic meltdown and of giving South Africans better healthcare and social security.

He said it wanted to step up the fight against HIV/Aids and tuberculosis and to tackle crime by building a stronger, more professional police force so that "all South Africans can live in safety".

On the crisis in Zimbabwe the new party showed little sign of departing from the government's line, despite a call from senior member Phillip Dexter last week for President Robert Mugabe to be ousted.

Ngonyama said Cope believed power sharing negotiations remained the way forward in South Africa's crisis-stricken neighbour.

"We have seen what the use of hard power means. Many people die in the process. We have to ensure that we respect the will of the people of Zimbabwe."

Cope will unveil its final policy manifesto at its inaugural launch in Bloemfontein, which gets underway at the weekend.

The party's general secretary, Charlotte Lobe, told reporters it had managed to attract 428,000 paid-up members since it was formed a few weeks ago, and believed this figure could swell to half a million by the time of the launch.

She said support for Cope was strongest in the Eastern Cape, where it boasted 160,000 members and the ANC's election drive there was a clear sign that it was feeling the pressure from the breakaway party.

"We welcome the fact that they realise they are now in trouble in the Eastern Cape," she said.

Cope claims to have 74,000 members in the Free State and 60,000 in the Western Cape, where it will this week contest by-elections, seen as a litmus test of its ability to take away support from the ANC.