How to read the scores
AI analysis assigns a numerical score from -2 to +2 based on the party's stance relative to state control vs. free market, or opposition vs. support for a specific policy reform.
Policy Commitments
Filter by category to explore specific policy proposals.
The IFP places integrity, accountability, and ethical conduct at the core of its governance philosophy, committing to a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption across all levels of government. They advocate for strengthening the role, powers, and functions of traditional leaders in provincial and local governance, seeing them as central to their local governance strategy and promoting communal economies.
Key Proposals
- Strictly implement a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, with prompt dismissal and prosecution of corrupt officials.
- Create a culture of accountability, professionalism, and ethical conduct in law enforcement.
- Champion the amendment of Chapters 7 and 12 of the Constitution to define the role, powers, and functions of traditional leaders.
- Support traditional leaders in promoting communal economies through self-help and self-reliance programmes and projects.
The IFP is committed to rebuilding South Africa's education system by implementing free basic education and state-sponsored higher education for poor and low-income families. They prioritize Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes to ensure universal access and advocate for devolving education powers to provinces and local communities to develop tailored school models.
Key Proposals
- Implement free basic education and state-sponsored higher education for poor and low-income families.
- Prioritise Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes for a strong foundation, ensuring all children have access.
- Re-evaluate and capacitate rural and township schools that were previously closed.
- Allow provinces and local communities to develop an education dispensation and school model best suited to their own needs.
- Roll out free scholar transport and efficiently run nutrition schemes in all public schools.
The IFP aims to end loadshedding by stabilizing the electricity grid and diversifying energy sources through a mixed system. They support public-private partnerships for Eskom, promote private investment in renewable energy like wind and solar, and advocate for local communities to benefit from reduced electricity rates, including through hydroelectric power.
Key Proposals
- Stabilize the electricity power grid, managing Eskom through a public-private partnership.
- Promote wind turbines and solar power for private investment in generation for own use and supply into the grid.
- Install solar panels in all new government houses.
- Support hydroelectric power generation, ensuring local and indigent communities benefit from reduced rates.
- Open the energy market and diversify energy generation.
The IFP prioritizes delivering safe and dignified homes for all, aiming to eradicate informal settlements and apartheid-style hostels. They propose subsidizing housing for low-income citizens, utilizing state land for development by provincial and municipal governments, and rolling out serviced sites for self-homebuilding. While emphasizing state and municipal responsibility, they also advocate for significant partnerships with the private sector in developing low-cost, social, and affordable housing.
Key Proposals
- Subsidise housing for citizens who cannot afford homes.
- Implement a Rent-to-Own scheme by developing low-cost housing programmes with the private sector.
- Identify parcels of State land for development by provincial governments and municipalities.
- Ensure that provinces and municipalities take responsibility for developing informal settlements.
- Link local economic development initiatives to building subsidised housing units and empowering small construction businesses.
The IFP adopts a strict stance on immigration, viewing illegal migration as a national security threat and a strain on resources, and commits to putting South Africans first. They propose fortifying borders with SANDF deployment and border walls, ensuring effective deportation, and involving all spheres of government, including municipalities, in identifying and processing illegal migrants. Furthermore, they advocate for reserving the small enterprise market and spaza shop industry for South Africans and banning businesses employing illegal migrants.
Key Proposals
- Deploy the SANDF to ports of entry and borders and fortify borders through the construction of border walls.
- Ensure effective deportation and administration of the deportation system.
- Ensure more involvement from all spheres of government: municipalities and provinces must assist in identifying, processing, and deporting illegal migrants.
- Ban the operation of businesses found to be employing illegal migrants.
- Reserve the small enterprise market and the spaza shop industry for South Africans.
The IFP is committed to empowering the vulnerable and ensuring social welfare through an expanded and efficient grant system. They propose increasing old age and child support grants, expanding food voucher systems for indigent households, and ensuring every community has access to social workers, including deploying state-trained social workers to municipalities. They also advocate for food security by exempting staple foods for poor households from VAT and providing food relief for child malnutrition.
Key Proposals
- Increase the old age and child support grant and expand the food voucher system for indigent households.
- Ensure that every community has access to a social worker, with state-trained social workers employed in municipalities.
- Deliver sanitary dignity for all indigent schoolgirls.
- Ensure food security for South Africans, with all staple foods in poor households exempt from VAT.
- Address child malnutrition by supporting families with food relief through a SASSA voucher programme.
The IFP prioritizes community safety by advocating for immediate and radical reform to strengthen the justice system and security services. They propose working closely with community policing forums, enhancing the role of traditional leaders in local governance for peace, and deploying the SANDF to crime-ridden communities. The party also supports a national debate on reinstating the death penalty and implementing stricter bail laws for violent crimes.
Key Proposals
- Work with communities to end crime by working closely with community policing forums.
- Open a national debate on the reinstatement of the death penalty to deter violent crimes.
- Revisit legislation to ensure that bail is denied to perpetrators of violence against women and children.
- Deploy the SANDF to communities where social ills, crime, and gangsterism are rife.
- Intensify training and support, and increase resources, for SAPS officers.
The IFP champions universal health coverage and state-sponsored health services, advocating for a robust District Health System and Primary Health Care model with devolved powers to provinces and municipalities. They propose overhauling the District Health System to ensure effective primary care delivery at the local level, expanding clinic services in disadvantaged communities, and addressing the shortage of healthcare professionals.
Key Proposals
- Champion universal health coverage and state-sponsored health services.
- Promote and overhaul the District Health System and Primary Health Care model.
- Ensure the devolution of powers to provinces and municipalities to run health institutions effectively.
- Expand clinic services in disadvantaged communities.
- Address the shortage of healthcare professionals by employing unemployed trained providers.
The IFP champions inclusive, market-led economic policies focused on empowering South Africans and addressing unemployment, particularly among the youth. They propose reserving job opportunities and the small enterprise market, including spaza shops, for South Africans, while empowering municipalities and provinces to support agricultural growth and local economic development through grants and internships.
Key Proposals
- Enforce a set 80/20 employment target for South Africans in all companies.
- Reserve the small enterprise market and the spaza shop industry for South Africans.
- Introduce a Local Economic Development Grant to support rural and township business cooperatives.
- Redirect SETA funds to ensure graduates receive 12-month internships at municipalities, provincial, and national departments.
- Empower provinces, districts, and municipalities to support agricultural growth.
The IFP advocates for land reform that prioritizes access to land for all, supporting the Ingonyama Trust model to keep communal land under traditional leadership for the benefit of the people. They propose a land audit to redistribute unused State land to the poor and support the policy of land expropriation with reasonable compensation, rather than without.
Key Proposals
- Commission a full-scale land audit to determine who owns what, and use findings to focus on State land redistribution.
- Reallocate all unused land that is in the hands of the State, for the benefit of the poor.
- Protect communal land under the custodianship of traditional leadership and extend the Ingonyama Trust model to other provinces.
- Continue to support the policy of land expropriation with reasonable compensation.
The IFP aims to resuscitate South Africa's transport system by fast-tracking its transformation through public-private partnerships and improving infrastructure for road, rail, and port networks. They prioritize upgrading passenger transport services for urban and rural communities, promoting integrated bus rapid transit systems, and fostering the growth of small operators in the taxi and bus services.
Key Proposals
- Fast-track the transformation of the transport industry to enhance efficiency by establishing public-private partnerships.
- Upgrade passenger transport services for urban commuters and rural communities, ensuring accessibility and safety.
- Improve public transport infrastructure by ensuring that road, rail and port infrastructure is well-maintained.
- Promote public and alternative modes of transport such as the expansion of integrated bus rapid transit systems.
- Foster small operator growth by providing opportunities for smaller entrepreneurs in the transport sector, particularly in the taxi and bus services.
The IFP's national ideology is rooted in the principles of ubuntu/botho and integrity, with a strong emphasis on putting "South Africans first" in economic and safety policies. They advocate for fostering social cohesion and patriotism, believing in the strength of the nation's unique diversity, and do not express radical renaming or Pan-Africanist integration.
Key Proposals
- Uphold the principles of ubuntu/botho and integrity as the foundation of future prosperity.
- Prioritize "South Africans first" in job opportunities, small enterprises, and safety policies.
- Actively promote and foster social cohesion and patriotism through programmes and dialogue.
The IFP strongly commits to ensuring universal access to safe, affordable water and sanitation by 2030, emphasizing municipal and provincial responsibility, financial resourcing, and capacity building for sustainable service delivery. They propose eradicating bucket toilets, upgrading infrastructure, and promoting water recycling and community involvement in service provision.
Key Proposals
- Ensure universal access to safe, affordable water and sanitation by 2030 and replace community water tanks with long-term solutions.
- Resource all municipalities financially and through capacity building to provide clean running water sustainably.
- Efficiently manage Basic Infrastructure Grants to municipalities via district-wide project management units.
- Eradicate the bucket toilet system once and for all.
- Promote water treatment/recycling technologies and waste-to-energy projects and form community-based water and sanitation committees.