The ANC is not in coalition talks with any party and aims for a “decisive victory” in 2024’s watershed general election, says party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.
Mbalula said the ANC is not keen on coalitions though it is dogged by administrative, operational and financial woes and widely expected to get fewer than 50% of the vote.
The party’s own poll has seen it struggling to muster 50%, raising the spectre of coalitions in all three tiers of government.
“In 2024, we will work for a decisive majority,” said Mbalula. “There are no discussions with any party regarding [next year’s] elections ... [we are going to] mobilise [and] prepare ourselves for decisive victory in 2024.
“We are going to our people for an outright decisive majority. It’s not a given. It’s something the ANC must earn, and [it] must win the people on its side to get a decisive majority.”
His remarks come at a time when several opposition parties have come together under the DA’s moonshot pact, which is aimed at unseating the ANC from the Union Buildings in 2024.
Briefing reporters in Johannesburg on Thursday about the party decision to review its 2019 election manifesto, Mbalula said the initiative would allow the party to account to the electorate on its manifesto commitments of 2019 which included promises of a better life for all.
Mbalula admitted, however, that there had been reversals in some “critical areas and loss of integrity in institutions of state”.
“We have learnt hard lessons about the vigilance needed to stop creeping lawlessness, greed and selfishness taking root. The ANC should have acted faster and moved decisively. We have heard the cries of millions [about] things that went wrong. We accept the criticism”, said Mbalula.
The state-capture commission said in its report in February 2022 that the ANC and some of its senior members, including chair Gwede Mantashe, played a central role in state capture, which cost the country about R500bn.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the ANC was accused No 1 when it comes to corruption. On Thursday, Mbalula said the ANC resolved to make this an era of renewal and hope.
“The ANC has a plan to turn things around. The ANC has started to revive the economy ... working with all sectors we shall renew and strengthen state institutions ... The road ahead will not be easy,” Mbalula said. The renewal project will “pose difficulties and there will be resistance to the fight against corruption. But the march to a better SA is unstoppable.”
He said Ramaphosa will on September 2 launch a campaign for the comprehensive review of the party’s 2019 election manifesto at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
The ANC leader will give a “detailed account on how far we have gone in relation to” the commitments the party made in its election manifesto in 2019.
The process is aimed at “accounting to the people of SA [for] what the ANC has done. This will be open to academia, civil society groups, media ... the leadership will give a thorough account on how far we have gone on our 2019 manifesto. This will start a conversation on the strides we have made and the backlogs.”
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