While the South African political realm has the EFF and the DA keeping the ANC in check, it’s important that someone does the same to the opposition.

Good thing the country has Stats SA and Africa Check to keep the public informed on whether what the power-hungry groups are claiming has any truth.

Africa Check just targeted the DA’s manifesto (after doing the ANC and EFF), trolling through their many claims to provide either a stamp of approval or denial. Here’s what they have to say:

]The DA’s] 68-page manifesto is titled ‘Change that moves South Africa forward again’. In the first pages, DA leader Mmusi Maimane spells out the DA’s vision for local government saying that “this document does not only make promises of a better future, it illustrates the progress we have already made in the municipalities we currently govern”.

(Pity the DA didn’t get in on the commitments vibe. )

Here we evaluate key claims in the DA’s manifesto about their past performance in local government. (Note: We aren’t able to fact-check promises, but will keep an eye on whether they are fulfilled.)

We have provided a few for you to read:

Claim: “More than 8.2 million South Africans do not have a job.”

Verdict: Mostly correct.

When the DA launched their manifesto on 23 April 2016, the latest available data on unemployment in South Africa was from July to September 2015.

That data showed that 5,418,000 people were unemployed then, according to the narrow definition. These people are unemployed but tried to find a job in the last four weeks. The latest data, from January to March 2016, shows that the number has risen to 5,714,000.

The expanded definition of unemployment includes discouraged job-seekers. These are people who want to work but are not actively trying to find employment. According to the expanded definition, there were 8,304,000 unemployed people in South Africa in July to September 2015. This figure rose to 8,927,000 in the first quarter of 2016.

Claim: The City of Cape Town’s “rate of unemployment” was 20.5% in 2013/14. This was lower than three other “major metros”, including the City of Tshwane (23.4%), Nelson Mandela Bay (30.6%) and the City of Johannesburg (27.9%).

Verdict: Incorrect.

The DA’s research unit told Africa Check that “upon closer inspection we found that the heading for the unemployment figures that appear in the bar graph on page 13 of the manifesto is incorrect”.

The unemployment data they cited was actually for October to December in 2015. That year the City of Cape Town’s narrow unemployment rate was 20.5% as claimed. However, the metropolitan municipality with the lowest unemployment rate was eThekwini at 15.9%.

Claim:“DA-run governments are recognised as among the best in South Africa by national government and a variety of other agencies.”

Verdict: Correct.

The DA told Africa Check that they base this claim on three different evaluations:

– the auditor-general’s reports from 2008/9 to 2013/4, as evaluated by the Dullah Omar Institute, a community law centre based at the University of Western Cape, with a research focus on multi-level government among others.

– the Government Performance Index, a metric compiled by the research and advocacy organisation Good Governance Africa,

– the Municipal Financial Stability Index (MFSI), compiled by the Ratings Afrika agency.

Claim: “The City of Cape Town has repealed over 300 [apartheid-era policies, structure plans, bylaws and other procedures].”

Verdict: Correct.

The DA manifesto promises that the party will create “a regulatory business environment that promotes growth and innovation”.

One of the ways it says it will do so is by repealing “apartheid-era policies, structure plans, bylaws and other procedures which contradict our commitment to freedom and fairness and which pose barriers to economic development and job-creating growth”. In the City of Cape Town, the DA claimed it had already repealed “over 300 such policies”.

The first document the DA sent us contained only 261 such policies. The list included policies from post-1994 – such as the “Goodwood Policy on the erection of Wendy houses” (1997) and “Fencing guidelines for N1 City, Goodwood” (2001).

In response, the DA said: “We do not believe the text suggests that the structure plans, bylaws and other procedures are all apartheid-era; indeed, a cursory look at the list should show that the policies, structure plans, bylaws and other procedures from the democratic era have also been repealed.”

The party then forwarded us a document listing an additional 75 policies, structure plans and frameworks as proof.

You can read the rest HERE, detailing various claims and whether or not they hold water.

[source: ewn]