ANC to launch health, education campaign

The African National Congress will embark on a mass campaign to improve access for all to quality health care and to encourage healthy lifestyles this month, it announced on Monday.

"On the education front, the campaign calls on individuals and organisations to assume responsibility for improving the quality of education," it said in a statement.

The Freedom Charter promised free, compulsory, universal and equal education for all children, state allowances for higher education and technical training and merit scholarships.

It also envisioned free medical care and hospitalisation for all, with special care for mothers and young children.

Although partly implemented, this would now be extended with the introduction of national health insurance.

The ANC said it would launch the health and education campaign at the Walter Sisulu Square, in Kliptown, at 9am on Friday.

It would be at the centre of the ANC's social transformation programme for the next five years.

"The ANC calls on all South Africans to join us in this campaign, as part of the ongoing effort to achieve a better life for all," it said. - Sapa