ANC on drum roll for its 107th anniversary

THE ANC is expecting 150 000 people at its much-anticipated 107th anniversary celebrations and election manifesto launch tomorrow, an event that will wrap up its week-long charm offensive in KwaZulu-Natal.

Since Monday, the party’s top brass has been criss-crossing its biggest provincial block in a bid to reiterate its message of unity and to convince voters to rally behind the party in the elections expected in May, when the ANC is set to face its toughest electoral contest since it gained power in 1994.

The campaign has included visits to churches and the homes of founding leaders of the party in the province.

The ANC’s acting national spokesperson, Dakota Legoete, said the party had done its best to woo supporters to attend its biggest annual event, which will be held at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

“We would never say it is enough. People have worked hard to ensure that we rally everybody to come to our event and would still want to drum up a lot of support because our intention is not only for the event but to deliver an electoral victory for the ANC, come the general elections.

“We still have to humble ourselves to the voters and South Africans,” Legoete said. While he did not immediately have logistical details of how the party’s faithful would get to the event, he said the stadium would be filled.

“We are expecting more than 150 000 people. They will fill up the stadium and two overflows,” Legoete said.

With the party still recovering from the divisions of its 2017 national conference where former president Jacob Zuma stepped down, President Cyril Ramaphosa has been at pains to tell ANC supporters that there was no bad blood between himself and his predecessor. KZN was the biggest province among those that were opposed to Ramaphosa’s presidency, a faction that was also sympathetic to Zuma.

Addressing ANC supporters during the rally to mark the party’s 107th anniversary on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said it was untrue that there was a rift between Zuma and himself, adding that their political working relationship had spanned almost two decades.

“We have long worked together. In 1991, I was elected as secretary-general. Comrade Jacob Zuma was deputy (secretary-general) and we worked well. We negotiated together and there was democracy. After that, he was elected to become deputy president, from there he became the president,” Ramaphosa said.

The president effectively credited Zuma for hand-picking him to be his deputy before he was installed as his successor, adding that he would continue to seek his counsel in addressing the party’s challenges.

“He is a former president but a former president that I am going to use as the president of the ANC for various tasks,” Ramaphosa said.

While he stressed that those involved in allegations of corruption and state capture – in which Zuma was implicated – would be taken to task, Ramaphosa denied claims that the ANC under his leadership was planning to haul Zuma over the coals for allegedly fomenting antagonism towards his leadership in the province.

This, however, did not stop ANC supporters sympathetic to Zuma from chanting his name immediately after Ramaphosa’s address on Tuesday.

Legoete said this was not a general reflection of how Ramaphosa and the ANC’s national leadership under him were received in KZN this week.

He said the ANC was opposed to those who damaged its image by praising individuals factionally.

“What we want is… one ANC that will ensure that it delivers on the mandate of our people. We don’t want a personality cult.

“We want a movement that belongs to the people, which does not belong to individuals,” Legoete added.