Johannesburg - The Congress of the People unveiled its draft policies on Tuesday ahead of the party's formal launch next week, and claimed to have drawn nearly half a million members since splintering from the ANC in late October.
Policy chief Smuts Ngonyama said the party's vision included reviving the economy by boosting industrial and agricultural production, improving education and healthcare and getting tough on crime.
"We have a very serious situation in that our economy is regressing," he said.
Ngonyama, a former communications boss for the ruling party, said the ANC government was to blame for the slowdown because it had allowed production to fall in favour of imports.
He said the sharp increase in imports in recent years, in areas ranging from footwear to food, "simply means that we have been exporting production".
Skills, food security
It not only cost jobs but raised the spectre of a loss of skills and food security.
He said Cope was shocked by the fact that only 1.5% of African learners were passing higher grade mathematics and was considering a call for schooling to be compulsory to the age of 16.
"If the majority of the people cannot participate meaningfully in the economy then production is going to suffer."
The Cope draft policy document, circulated to party structures last weekend, portrays the fledgling party as a centrist outfit aiming to achieve Nelson Mandela's vision of creating a cohesive, non-racial nation.
Ngonyama said Cope was in favour of increased state spending, both as a way of dealing with the global economic meltdown and of giving South Africans better healthcare and social security.
He said it wanted to step up the fight against HIV/Aids and tuberculosis and to tackle crime by building a stronger, more professional police force so that "all South Africans can live in safety".
Talks best for Zim
On the crisis in Zimbabwe, the new party showed little sign of departing from the government's line, despite a call from senior member Phillip Dexter last week for President Robert Mugabe to be ousted.
Ngonyama said Cope believed power sharing negotiations remained the way forward in South Africa's crisis-stricken neighbour.
"We have seen what the use of hard power means. Many people die in the process. We have to ensure that we respect the will of the people of Zimbabwe."
Cope will unveil its final policy manifesto at its inaugural launch in Bloemfontein, which gets underway at the weekend.
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