FF Plus leader Mulder to target despondent voters

Freedom Front Plus leader Corne Mulder says his party is targeting voters who have become disillusioned with politics, arguing that frustration over failing municipalities can be turned into renewed participation ahead of the November polls.

Mulder told the Sunday Times that this outreach is essential because local government is where citizens experience the consequences of government most directly.

“Local government is the most important layer of government because it is the closest to the people,” he said. “People often say they are tired of politics and don’t want to get involved, but that is the biggest mistake they can make.”

The party recently unveiled a 10-point plan to fix municipalities. Its priorities include repairing and building infrastructure, devolving decision-making to communities, strengthening council and committee oversight and enforcing consequences for wrongdoing.

On municipal finances, the FF Plus proposes protecting property rights and property values, reinvesting taxes in the wards where they are collected, reducing management posts it considers unnecessary and appointing more tradespeople to deliver services.

We interact with people that have not been voting for many years, who we managed to get out and register ... Now we need to get them to the polls.

“It’s time for your tax money to work for you,” Mulder said. “We want a substantial portion of the tax money collected in your ward — your property rates and levies — to be reinvested there.”

The party also wants to use the equitable share to provide basic services to indigent residents, limit tariff hikes to inflation, introduce a standardised rates system and uniform service tariffs, and roll out smart meters to improve billing accuracy.

Mulder said the FF Plus’s appeal rests in persuading citizens who have stopped voting that participation can still improve their daily lives.

“We interact with people that have not been voting for many years, who we managed to get out and register,” he said. “Now we need to get them to the polls.”

He said restoring functioning municipalities would be central to the party’s campaign, with corruption and maladministration among its chief targets.

“People are absolutely disillusioned. They are turning away from the political system because they do not see services; they see corruption,” Mulder said.

Mulder promised that officials found guilty of wrongdoing would face consequences rather than being moved to other posts.

“It has become a nice little thing where people are employed in one place, and once they are caught out, they are simply redeployed somewhere else,” he said. “That will have to come to an end.”