ANC prepares for January 8 events
Governing party also to launch its election manifesto
ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula says the party’s election manifesto‚ which is to be launched at a rally in Durban‚ is not a “bucket of promises”, but a thoughtful consideration of the needs of the people.
Yesterday‚ the party briefed the media about a week of activities planned in and around Durban to commemorate the party’s 107th birthday on Tuesday and the launch of its election manifesto on January 12. Mbalula said ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa would give a proper account of what the party had done and what it planned to do while “acknowledging the challenges we had”.
“There were mistakes that were committed but that’s why the ANC has been on the path of recovering lost ground‚” Mbalula said.
He conceded that there was a perception that the ANC and its leaders were arrogant and did not deal with challenges raised and protested about.
“There are challenges that we had to deal with as a party which we were sjambokked about … we had to deal with issue of Nkandla‚” he said.
Mbalula said Ramaphosa would be frank in his address‚ saying: “The road has not been easy and we learnt through our mistakes.”
The ANC is expecting the main rally at Moses Mabhida Stadium to attract more than 85‚000 supporters. “Buses in excess of 1‚300 have been organised to transport people from all provinces. Trains have also been organised to transport people from different parts of the KZN province‚” Mbalula said.
Ramaphosa will address the main January 8 celebrations in Inanda‚ eThekwini. Next Friday‚ a preview of the manifesto will take place at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.
ANC has been on the path of recovering lost ground