President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a scathing attack on his detractors working to bring the ANC below 50% in the upcoming 2024 national and provincial elections, characterising them as “snakes” who were worse than right-wing opposition parties.
Delivering the keynote address at the January 8 rally at Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on Saturday, the ANC leader criticised the “onslaught against transformation” by factional groupings and conflicts within the party.
These groupings, he said, “come as real snakes, snakes ready to bite our people”. They masquerade as more radical than the ANC and their slogans and rhetoric are “wishy washy”.
It is not uncommon for ANC leaders to characterise the their detractors as snakes. Former president Jacob Zuma himself likened his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, to a “dead snake” when the party’s national executive committee (NEC) recalled him as president in September 2008.
The ANC is dogged by a trust deficit, infighting, governance challenges and declining electoral support that has seen it lose local councils to opposition parties.
Independent surveys suggest the party’s electoral support could dip below the 50% mark in the upcoming election.
Zuma caused much consternation when he announced recently he would neither vote nor campaign for the ANC in the 2024 election, and joined the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which styles itself as an alternative to the governing party.
On Saturday, Ramaphosa took issue with “social and political forces working very hard to undermine gains of our freedom made over three decades”.
“They want to stop people’s march to a nonracial, nonsexist society. The anti-transformation forces are forming various pacts, while at the same time seeking to fragment the forces of change through splinter groups [and] parties that want to contest the ANC,” Ramaphosa said, adding such groups wanted to erode the ANC’s support base.
“Another tactic is to ensure the ANC is locked up in internal struggles to weaken and destroy it from within. These forces want to deprive the ANC of the ability to use state power to continue with the process of change and transformation.”
Ramaphosa said the “onslaught against transformation” should make the ANC more determined this year to build a better life for all and be more resolute in rebuilding the organisation.
“We are not afraid of [our detractors], they must come. We will defeat them. We are saying come, you will get us. They are plotting against this people’s movement that has brought so much transformation,” the ANC leader said.
Ramaphosa said the ANC would work for a decisive electoral victory to obtain a clear mandate from the electorate.
“We are going to work for a clear mandate. They are saying the ANC is finished, some say we are going to get less than 50%, some say 30%. That is said by those who don’t know the ANC of Mandela, Luthuli, Langalibalele Dube,” he said to loud applause.
“The ANC is ready to launch a formidable campaign that will engage the citizens of our country in every sector of society to seek a decisive mandate from our people who continue to love the ANC.”
The president said the dysfunctional coalition agreements brought by the 2016 municipal elections had led to service delivery weaknesses. “They don’t really work for our people … The total chaos, instability and dysfunctionality at provincial and national level would be a total disaster” for national and provincial governments.
“All the ANC needs is outright victory. That’s why [we] must go all out to work for outright victory. We call on our members and supporters to go all out to campaign vigorously for an outright victory. I will also be out there, together with NEC members, we will work with you to attain this victory,” Ramaphosa said.
The ANC would launch its election manifesto in February “where we will set out our clear vision and programme to take our country forward”.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said economic instability, trade wars, the rising cost of living and geopolitical conflicts that continue to destabilise various countries and livelihoods of many, had spurred the ANC to “accelerate the reconstruction of our economy, deliver quality basic services, infrastructure and renewal of the ANC and society”.
“All these tasks will gain momentum as our country marks 30 years of democracy and freedom,” he said.
SA had made significant gains over the past three decades, including the adoption of the “best constitution in the world”, delivery of basic services and infrastructure including housing, implementation of progressive labour laws including the national minimum wage, and establishment of Chapter 9 institutions including the public protector.
Ramaphosa said 89% of households had access to water and 85% access to electricity, while 4.7-million people were recipients of state housing.
In 1999, 2.5-million people had access to social security and the number has since risen to 18-million, said Ramaphosa, adding that the monthly R350 social relief of distress grant had taken the number to 28-million.
“That’s one of the greatest achievements of our government — to help people deal with poverty,” he said, adding the government spent R48bn every year to support those in universities and colleges.
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