Reduce Poverty and Tackle the High Cost of Living

• Review current administered prices (including the fuel price formula) to identify areas for reduction.
• Return all passenger rail corridors to service as a low-cost transport option.
• Implement an integrated transport network in line with the National Rail Policy.

• Continue the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to support income for unemployed people.
• Use the SRD grant as the basis for a sustainable form of income support for unemployed people to address the challenge of income poverty.
• Ensure the National Minimum Wage increases with inflation and enforce compliance.
• Optimise social protection within available fiscal resources (including support to the unemployed).
• Integrate social protection with the broader poverty alleviation strategy, linking social assistance with livelihood opportunities to lift people out of poverty.

• Prioritise providing title deeds for land and subsidised housing to combat asset poverty.
• Review housing policy to enable people to live closer to economic opportunities, including releasing public land and demand-side subsidies, and provide appropriate support that prioritises rental, social housing and rent-to-own options.

• Focus on achieving universal access to early childhood development.
• Ensure schools are conducive to education, with enough classrooms, safe and appropriate sanitation facilities, clean water and a daily meal for those who need it.
• Expand vocational and technical training.
• Take a demand-led approach to skills development.

• Implement the National Health Insurance to ensure all have access to equitable, accessible and affordable quality health care.
• Strengthen health care infrastructure.
• Improve training of healthcare personnel.
• Use technology to improve health care management

“While there is much contestation around the NHI, there is broad agreement that we must draw on the resources and capabilities of both the public and private sectors to meet the health care needs of all South Africans equally.”