ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the annual 'January 8' statement in Cape Town. (X)
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday called on party members deployed in the government of national unity to make use of their positions to ensure service delivery and transformation, and to accept the “depth of dysfunction” that needs to be righted among the party’s structures.
Ramaphosa called on the ANC’s deployees to “move with speed” and act confidently in the roles, saying this is not the time to be tentative or doubtful in doing their work and implementing policy.
“The movement therefore must ensure that the tactical initiative which it gained through the formation of the ANC-led GNU is used effectively to open space for a strategic advance to the benefit of the motive forces and all South Africans,” he said.
Ramaphosa made the remarks while delivering the party’s January 8 statement in Mandela Park Stadium in Khayelitsha, the first to be delivered by a party president with no outright parliamentary majority since liberation.
It has become an ANC tradition to deliver the statement in big stadiums with supporters from all over the country. However, this year the ANC held the commemoration at a local stadium in Khayelitsha and did not bus in supporters from other provinces.
The party had to provide mobile toilets, water and areas of shade for those who had to dodge the heat due to the rudimentary nature of the facilities at the sportsground.
In a surprise turn of events, ANC supporters heckled the deputy chairperson of the South African Communist Party, Thulas Nxesi. when he took to the podium to deliver a message of support from his party.
The supporters did so to show their frustration with the SACP’s decision that it would contest the elections as an independent party in the 2026 local government elections, rather than the norm of contesting the elections with the ANC.
Speaking to community members, supporters and ANC members, Ramaphosa said the outcome of the May 2024 elections has been characterised by the national executive committee as a “strategic setback” due to the loss of majority.
He said the reasons for the electoral decline include the state of the economy reflected in the crisis of unemployment and social reproduction, poor basic services and deficiencies of capability, a lack of ethical and responsive governance; and the ANC’s organisational weaknesses and damaged brand.
“A combination of some of these reasons led to many of our traditional supporters and voters staying away from voting and or voting for other parties,” he said.
“The extent and depth of the electoral loss points to an organisation that has lost significant support and public confidence. This may be a painful reality for us to accept, but our healing lies in accepting the depth of dysfunction in our structures and among our members and leadership.”
Ramaphosa also spoke about the importance of the party renewing itself as it has been dubbed by a lot of South Africans as a corrupt and non-caring organisation.
He told the audience that renewal of the ANC remains the number one priority, while resolving the water crisis, fixing local government and improving the economy remain the top among the six priorities for the government for this year.
He said the 2024 elections results confirm that they face an existential crisis saying that “this is a moment wherein the ANC should either renew or perish.”
“We must do much more work, with greater urgency and determination. The cornerstone of our renewal agenda therefore remains building our movement’s capacity to discharge its historical mission.”
“This includes strengthening the presence of the ANC in communities through strong ANC branches as centers of development, that engage and listen to citizens, and work with them to address challenges and grievances.”
Ramaphosa said the renewal was as much about fixing the ANC as it is about improving the quality of governance and service delivery and fast-tracking fundamental socio-economic transformation.
He praised the government for fixing the load shedding issues it had been battling with for many years, saying they NEC commended the government and Eskom’s management for their resolute efforts in addressing the energy crisis.
He called on the government to also address problems of load reduction and power outages which still affect some communities in the townships and rural areas.