Johnathan Paoli
President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his confidence at the African National Congress (ANC)’s continuing leading role in bringing transformation to the country, based on what the people want he said at the officially opening of the party’s Lekgotla at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni on Sunday.
Ramaphosa said his party did not arrive at forming a Government of National Unity (GNU) easily, but it was a decision taken fully aware of the risks and opportunities inherent in the option.
“We firmly believe this was the best way to form a government that is stable, effective and able to advance the interests of the South African people as a whole,” Ramaphosa said.
The Lekgotla followed the party’s National Executive Committee meeting, which started on Thursday last week, and focused on the ANC’s six priorities of its 2024 elections manifesto.
Ramaphosa said having entered into a GNU with parties ideologically opposed to the values and norms of the ANC, the party was fully aware of the risks and realities facing the 7th administration.
In light of other examples of GNUs across the globe, the coming together of different parties remained a difficult task, but the ANC remained focusing on providing what the people of South Africa demanded, he said.
He said voters expressed their decision, and the party would base its path going forward on that and seek to strike a path going forward, despite the political bickering and games played between different parties on the political landscape.
“They want us to put their needs and aspirations first and they want us to work together for the sake of our country,” Ramaphosa said while adding that South Africans wanted more from their political representatives and that the lekgotla was necessary in order to determine the work required to fix the country.
The President also outlined the priorities, which include: job creation, building inclusive industries, tackling the high cost of living, investing in people through health and education, building state capacity and defending the country’s democracy.
“Our people want a transformed, growing and inclusive economy that creates work for millions of job seekers and offer business opportunities to all entrepreneurs in our nation – women and men, young and old,” Ramaphosa said.
The lekgotla is expected to take place over a three-day period, and includes ministers, deputy ministers, premiers and executive mayors in order to expand and refine action plans, based on the ANC’s manifesto priorities.
The lekgotla will come to its conclusion on Tuesday.
Ramaphosa admitted that the ANC has accepted the election outcomes with great humility and viewed the decline in electoral support as a call to action rather than the final bell of defeat.
This follows the dismal performance by the previous ruling party during the May national and provincial elections, with the ANC losing a significant percentage of their electoral support.
Ramaphosa said the NEC has instructed the national task team on coalition to intervene at municipal level to stabilise municipalities across the country, and said the first engagement will be initiated in Johannesburg.
The ANC’s Febe Potgieter said the crisis surrounding the low voter turnout and democratic participation was a combined result of voter dissatisfaction as well as the enduring nature of the legacies haunting the country since the dawn of the democratic dispensation.
“The dream of a non-racial South Africa clearly faces some challenges there. It didn’t also express itself in the elections, we saw instances of racism we do not understand,” Potgieter said.
Acting party spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi said despite the recent pull-back from the party’s GNU partner – the Democratic Alliance (DA), the ANC remained the most appropriate party to lead the people to transformation.
“There is no party in the country that can match the ANC intellectually, ideologically and politically,” Godlimpi said.
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