African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee social transformation committee chairperson Zweli Mkhize assured, on Friday, that the party will address the rising cost of living by addressing the costs of essentials such as food, housing, healthcare, energy and transport.

Mkhize was unpacking priorities as set out in the party’s manifesto, saying the ANC further committed to a structural programme to prioritise food security through VAT exemptions on essential food items, the promotion of household food gardens and accelerated land reform.

He highlighted that there would be a strong focus on the provision of basic services for all.

“…particularly the expansion of subsidised services for the indigent and the poor such as housing, water and electricity,” he said.

Equitable access to quality education and healthcare would be strengthened, including support for the implementation of national health insurance, Mkhize stressed.

“Other measures will be implemented to ensure affordable student accommodation, national minimum wage-aligned inflation and strengthening of existing social grants,” he said.

Mkhize highlighted that, currently, there were over 26-million recipients of government's comprehensive social security system, the majority of whom were children and those in distress.

“No doubt there may have been some unintended consequences from social grants which we are determined to rectify as soon as they surface. We intend to deepen, particularly the Child Support Grant, and move closer towards a basic income grant,” he promised.

He claimed that from the advent of the Reconstruction and Development Programme through the Growth, Employment, and Redistribution strategy, and now the National Development Plan, the ANC had made significant strides in policy formulation to advance social upliftment.

Mkhize said the ANC remained focused on eliminating the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality, which he said were the legacy of colonialism and apartheid faced by the country.

“To achieve this, several measures will be employed, amongst others, the lifting the social wage of every South African, particularly those who are living in poverty,” he said.