PRETORIA — The ballot paper for tomorrow’s election that some have already seen due to special or overseas votes is a long and colourful one. Most people concentrate on the main parties the ANC, the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front in deciding who they will vote for tomorrow, but there are 47 other parties on the ballot representing other views. It is easy to dismiss them as irrelevant or that voting for them is a wasted vote, but if they can get 30,000 people to vote for them, they have one representative in Parliament. And these small parties often punch above their weight in Parliament if they have a charismatic leader. In the past Helen Suzman managed to do that and more recently Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema attracted far more attention than the percentage of parliamentary seats that his party had. One of the smaller parties contesting the elections is the Alliance for Transformation for All (ATA), which is the ‘brainchild of the taxi industry’, but has since managed to ‘forge alliances’ with students, the health sector and traditional leaders to name a few. They gave us a shout and said how about us, we represent businesses as well. So, if you want to support their mission, here is what they stand for. – Linda van Tilburg
Alliance for Transformation for All media release
The Alliance for Transformation for All is the brainchild of the taxi industry and has cast its net across to attract farmers, traditional leaders, hawkers, students and all informal trading, as well as all South Africans who feel the burden of the current government. The formation of this party was influenced by continuous exclusion of the taxi industry in the future transport plans as well as impounding of taxi buses and the continuous decline in the country score for participation and human rights. The organisation currently has an interim NEC structure and has since spread its wings to form alliances (with hawkers, informal trading, farmers, traditional leaders, students).
The taxi industry, a major black owned business which has survived without government assistance contributes to the country’s GDP directly and indirectly. One of its biggest contributions is employment of taxi owners and operators.
Read also: Taming the taxi association beast; a fraught exercise
South Africa is currently facing most notable challenges which impacts on the country’s GDP resulting in poverty as the country is rating below 30% of its sub-Saharan Africa counterparts. In the recent economic growth forecast the International Monetary Fund lowered the South Africa’s projected growth rate in 2019 from 1.4% to 1.2 % putting the country amongst the worst performers in the sub Saharan Africa. ATA believes that the current government has failed to address compliance in terms of geographical location, the effect of corruption has seriously constrained the country’s economic development and significantly inhibited good governance to a larger extent. The looting in the state owned businesses such as bonus payments to underperforming executives has immensely affected the country’s stability and trust, and damaged the democratic values and principles leading to a high crime rate and unemployment.
ATA seeks to provide a solution of good governance through a unique sectoral approach where the state owned companies will have a responsibility to create a developmental path through measures such as SMME training and development. ATA notes that the current legislation does not enable effective management of these companies. It also fails to ensure transparency and spending controls, shareholder functions have never been legislated through the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
On the ground. Our people work 24/7 spreading the word. pic.twitter.com/FpUv5R1mYJ
— Alliance for Transformation for All (@ATAPeopleGovern) May 3, 2019
ATA has also committed to subsidise the taxi industry with at least R12,000 per month per legal taxi, and reduce commuters fares by half. It also wants to subsidise the taxi industry in proportion to the rest of the other modes of transport.
The party’s manifesto states that ATA will be the first party ever to involve the public on who should lead the country through an open system run by an independent panel of former presidents who have the thorough knowledge of Leadership, this will be done through a public broadcaster calling on interested leaders to avail themselves for nominations. ATA will then employ data collectors, capturers, property evaluators and tracing agents to collect and compile.
In assisting the small business sector, ATA will resolve to open the Department of Trade and Industry in all towns, including rural areas.
The party also has working interim structures in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KZN, North West as well as task teams in Free State and Mpumalanga. It has an interim constitution, policies, and a manifesto (copied below). The party website is live. The party recently held a successful incident free National Manifesto launch in Cape Town in March and has rolled out its provincial and regional launches that culminated into what was dubbed the Ses’fikile rally hosted by KZN on 29 April, and its part two was hosted by the Eastern Cape on 30 April. We are a well-disciplined organisation and considering our background of taxi association’s violence which we believe is mostly perpetrated by the current government officials through duplication of routes, we are a party that commits to be an advocate for peace.
