Simon Nare
President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed election polls that indicate the African National Congress will continue on its downward spiral in the upcoming local government elections, saying instead the party will prove them wrong as he called on its supporters to rebuke this contempt.
Delivering his keynote address at the party’s final rally at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdatsane in the Eastern Cape on Sunday, Ramaphosa said the ANC enjoyed the most support in the country but most do not vote and took it for granted that the ANC will automatically power to victory without casting a vote.
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He urged the party’s more than 500 000 volunteers across the country to ensure their supporters head to the polls on election day and prove the “mickey mouse parties” the support it enjoys.
“There are those who are saying the ANC is on a downward spiral but what I am seeing here is that the ANC is rising and is going up and up. And on November (4) we will disappoint all those who are saying the ANC will lose,” he said.
The president’s predictions sharply contradict all the opinion polls that have been published so far, citing the party facing significant decline in support at the polls. None of the polls are predicting that the party will accumulate over 40% support nationally and less than 30% in all the major metros.
Recent survey suggest the ANC is highly unlikely to win any metro outright with Ipsos polling the ANC at 30% nationally which is a steep drop from the 47.5% from the 2021 elections.
Social Research Foundation, which presented a wider-range projects a 22% to 32% while The Common Sense/Independent Projections polled the party at roughly 32% nationaly.
Yet Ramaphosa told hundreds of party followers at the party’s final rally a few days before the elections that the party is not capitalising on its support to its potential while other supporters simply do not go to the polls to cast their vote.
He pointed out that on Saturday in Limpopo thousands of supporters at the province’s Siyanqoba rally demonstrated that as well as another rally in KwaZulu-Natal.
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The president said during the election campaign across the country, the party engaged people and communities and the party has registered their concerns and now has an understating of what needed to be done.
Ramaphosa pointed out that party will have to deploy councillors and mayors who will work for the people and those who do not implement resolutions and mandate will be booted out.
“We have listened to them. We have listed to the pensioners who have told us that they want their pension stipend to be increased. We have listed to all the people. The strength of the ANC is that we have been able, as we have always done before, to go through the length and breadth of our country, we are the only organisation that goes from village to village, that goes from town to town, from city to city and street by street.
“That is what makes the difference between the ANC and all the other parties, even those who around saying nywe nywe nywe promising to represent the people. They can not match the capability of the ANC,” he said.
The president pointed out that the ANC had a history of governing and has done “good things” but now it needs the support of its millions of followers across the country to deliver on its promises, saying the party would have the budget to do so.
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“We have got the plan, we have got the budgets. We now say our councilors must go and implement the policies and decisions. Now, that is why we, as the ANC, are placing so much emphasis on making sure we get accountable and capable and ethical people who are going to be elected because we want municipalities that are properly run that will also maintain infrastructure and support economic development,” he said.
He added that the party wanted mayors who understood that leadership is about working for the people and working with the people and not community leaders who wanted popularity.
The president said as he was travelling across the country in the provinces, he had learnt that communities had problems of water supply and the party would want to work with administrations from national to provincial level to address these challenges.
“We have found that the problem of water starts at the municipal level and we want to support our municipalities. We want them to work with us. Comrades the ANC had done a lot and it has demonstrated that it can achieve great results,” he said.
He reminded the volunteers their job should not end at the finally but rather they must go and encourage people in the communities to out in their numbers.
“That is the final push,” he said.
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