THE African National Congress celebrated its 88th birthday with rallies across the country on Saturday. ANC president Thabo Mbeki addressed the official meeting in the Northern Province where he launched 2000 as the ANC’s year of the dawn of the African century. In KwaZulu-Natal provincial ANC chairman S’bu Ndebele addressed a crowd of supporters at the Umkhumbane Multi-Purpose Centre in Durban. In Wattville, on the East Rand, Defence Minister and ANC national chairman, Mosiuoa Lekota waded through an hour-long speech in front of a small crowd of supporters.