ANC: 107 and getting stronger
Packed stadium, no disruptions as Ramaphosa sets the tone
THE ANC’S week-long mobilisation and election campaign paid dividends yesterday with tens of thousands turning up for a manifesto rally that highlighted the party’s support in Kwazulu-natal, its’ biggest support base.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appealed to South Africans to give the ANC another chance to govern , saying the party, under his leadership, was in a state of renewal.
He was delivering the ANC’S annual January 8 Statement at the party’s 107th anniversary at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
Ramaphosa detailed the party’s plan for the year ahead, giving some indication of what will be covered in his State of the Nation address next month.
The Moses Mabhida Stadium and its overflow fields were a sea of black, green and gold as ANC members and supporters from all over the country descended on Durban for the climax of what has been a week of ANC events.
The 85 000-seater stadium was packed, with thousands more at adjoining People’s Park. Former president Jacob Zuma received rapturous applause as he made his way to the stage. He danced with Umkhonto We Sizwe military veterans before taking his seat on the stage.
Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe did not attend.
At the event were political parties from neighbouring countries including Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, as well as the Palestinian party, Fatah.
The ANC also launched its manifesto for the general elections, which are scheduled for some time in May.
In a show of unity by a party which has been battling factionalism, no booing took place during the speech, despite threats that party supporters sympathetic to former president Jacob Zuma would disrupt Ramaphosa’s address.
Instead there was a warm response to Ramaphosa’s speech in what could be the biggest display of support the ANC has seen in recent years.
Ramaphosa said the ANC had made progress in the last year to restore integrity and credibility to the party.
“Where necessary, we have taken measures to deal with cadres who have undermined the integrity of the movement and the ethical standards expected of public representatives and ANC leaders. This is among the most difficult of organisational tasks, but we remain resolute in our efforts to stamp out deviant and abhorrent practices,” Ramaphosa said.
The Anc-led government had taken bold steps to confront corruption and state capture through the establishment of various commissions and changes in the leadership of state-owned companies as part of restoring public confidence.
“We will appeal with all humility to the South African people to once again express their confidence in the ANC to lead society in pursuit of shared growth, job creation, radical economic and social transformation and national unity,” he said.
Ramaphosa said while the ANC was proud of the progress that had been made, it had the duty to acknowledge that mistakes wew made by the party which had stalled some areas of transformation.
“We must acknowledge that state capture and corruption have weakened several of our public institutions, undermined effective governance and contributed to the poor performance of our economy. We must also acknowledge that factionalism and patronage have diminished the ability of the ANC to lead the process of transformation and fulfil its mandate to the people.” The party had several plans for the year ahead including; strengthening internal unity, boosting economic growth and transformation through the use of government procurement, restoring investor confidence and improved collaboration with the private sector.
“Radical socio-economic transformation requires greater financial inclusion, which, among other things, demands more diverse ownership of the financial sector and a greater role for state and co-operative banks. We are working with social partners to put in place a new compact with clear targets and commitments,” Ramaphosa said.
Youth unemployment remained a priority. | Additional reporting by SAMKELO
THE ANC launched its manifesto with an admission that the party “made mistakes and veered off course” and, as a result, the organisation was resolved “to work with our people to address this cancer (of corruption) in our society”.
This admission is important if the ANC is to rekindle the love lost with some sections of the electorate over the past 10 years. Missing in the admission is a tally of what these mistakes were and how far the movement derailed.
The electorate deserves to know this to determine whether the ANC appears fit to drive the country back from the brink of collapse it neared because of an Anc-led government.
The manifesto for the 2019 general elections has the tagline “Let’s grow South Africa together”. It builds on 2009’s “Working together we can do” and 2014’s “Together we move South Africa forward”.
The emphasis on “togetherness” is probably derived from the mantra that “The ANC is the leader of society”, intended to unite all progressive forces under its banner. This is indicated in the manner in which the 2019 manifesto emphasis is on how government, the private sector, labour and civil society should work hand-in-hand to purse the transformation of the economy to serve the people. Ideologically and politically, the idea of “the people” is contested. Who are the people?
This question is pertinent in our context as the most unequal society in the world. The ANC will do well to clarify and explicitly state who the people are; especially those it imagines to be systematically locked out of economic participation. The ANC identifies key areas that need attention for the transformation of the economy: more jobs and decent jobs, broadening ownership, a sustainable land reform programme, addressing monopolies that lead to excessive economic concentration, an investment plan, an industrial strategy, the digital revolution, small enterprises, co-operatives and township and village economies, transforming and diversifying the financial sector, and developing a macroeconomic framework.
Thequick The ANC manifesto made the right noises about the need to heal divisions, create more jobs, root out corruption and end gender violence, but was light in specifics
These are not novel ideas from the ANC. They are a rehash of its past areas of focus when making promises to the electorate. Of interest it is how the ANC proposes broadening the ownership of the economy through employee-ownership schemes that would lead to workers owning a part of the companies in which they work. There is silence on community ownership – a significant concept given the continued presence of the extractive economy through mining, oil and gas exploration.
Mining communities have been asserting themselves through protest and litigation as important role-players in the exploration of mineral resources. The absence of communities when thinking of broadening economic participation makes the ANC appear ignorant of the centrality of communities where industries are enacted.
The ANC appears less ambitious in its targets this time around. The party proposes that it will create an extra 275 000 jobs each year “by boosting local demand for goods, investing more in mining, manufacturing and agriculture and expanding export markets”. Another avenue to increase economic participation will be the use of internships and training opportunities.
Coupled to this will be the removal of work experience “as a requirement for employment of young people”.
The job creation targets fall far behind the target of the National Development Plan (NDP) that intended to see unemployment drop to 20% by 2020.
This will not be achieved. Yet the 2019 manifesto still gives centrality to the NDP, even though a significant number of ambitious targets and fundamentals to jump-start the South African economy contained in the NDP are far from being achieved.
The ANC is aware of this difficulty as it once more plans to develop a macro-economic policy framework that will “support the distinct and vibrant social and solidarity economy based on addressing social and environmental needs rather than profit maximisation”. This commitment is important if the ANC is to build a mixed economy responsive to the challenges of income and asset ownership inequality that confront our country, much to the detriment of hopes of young people, especially those who are black.
This emanates from the racialised hierarchy of oppression developed by the apartheid government.
For this reason, the ANC recognises that it ought to broaden its options in the pursuit of land reform. The support for land expropriation without compensation is clearly stated by the party. However, it sees this as one of the instruments that should be available to expedite land reform.
The ANC is tight-lipped or unimaginative on what the other instruments will be.
The manifesto also addresses the advancement of social transformation, building safer communities, fighting corruption and promoting integrity, building nation unity and embracing diversity, and imaging South Africa in the world. Many of the ideas proposed under these areas of the manifesto are similar to those proposed in the 2009 and 2014 manifestos. What is interesting in this manifesto is the ambitious target to build “at least one new South Africa city of the future”. I suppose Steyn City in this instance does not qualify, and it will be interesting to hear the ANC unpack where this city could be located and what its key features would be.
During the manifesto launch there was a moment worth celebrating. Ramaphosa called on all men present at Moses Mabhida stadium to stand up and make a commitment to women that they would end gender-based violence in society. This heralded a new era in that the governing party was now ready to confront gender-based violence. For some time activists have been accusing government of being lacklustre in the fight against this in all its forms.