African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa says unity and renewal will be at the center of all the efforts of the new ANC leadership in 2018.
Ramaphosa was delivering his maiden January 8 statement in celebration of the party’s 106th anniversary at the Absa Studium in East London. The festivities were attended by his predecessor Jacob Zuma, Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta and Rivonia trialist Andrew Mlangeni amongst others.
Ramaphosa received a warm welcome from the packed Absa Stadium, with supporters singing for him the song, Rise Ramaphosa.
As planned the ANC president took to the podium at exactly 11:00 am, something that he says is a demonstration that things have changed and that the ANC is now taking people seriously by respecting time.
”This year we started we started our celebrations on time and this is a clear signal that things are changing. The NEC and its first meeting also started on time. Nelson Mandela would have been very pleased to see that in starting our things on time we respect our people. From now on when we say we will start a meeting at a particular that meeting must start with fail that is what the ANC should be showing as an example going forward,” says Ramaphosa.
The 2018 January 8 celebrations were also dedicated to former President Nelson Mandela who would have been 100 year old this year. And Ramaphosa says they will work to emulate Madiba’s legacy of selflessness.
”This year we shall intensify our efforts to realise Madiba’s vision of a unite SA in which all live with in peace with equal rights. We shall place at the top of the agenda Madiba’s vision of non-sexist society I which the oppression and exploitation of women is eradicated.”
The ANC has been rocked by divisions and factionalism which has seen a dip in the party’s support in the Eastern Cape.
Ramaphosa says they have no choice, but to immediately embark on a programme to rebuild the organisation.
”The ANC 54th national conference recognised that the movement has become deeply divided. The leaders of your organisation were continually in conflict. Structures of the movement we have found that they were weakened and the confidence of the people of our country are actually been eroded. We found that this had led to a social distance between the elected leaders and the electorates this had damaged the bond between the ANC and our people.”
And with state-owned enterprises identified as key in achieving a developmental state, Ramaphosa says corruption in state-owned enterprises and other public institutions is undermining government’s programmes to address poverty and unemployment.
”We want those state-owned enterprises such as Eskom, Prasa, Transnet to be enterprises that we can all be proud of. The ANC, therefore, welcomes President Jacob Zuma’s announcement to establish a commission of inquiry in line with the public protector’s report on state capture.”
He also vowed to ensure the full implementation of all the resolutions adopted at the party’s 54th national congress.
With the year 2018 coinciding with the 105th year of the 1913 Land Act, which stripped black people of their land, Ramaphosa says they will fast track the expropriation of land without compensation insisting the party’s resolution will not inhibit food security and production.
”We should implement a comprehensive approach to land reform and this is going to be our important task this year to improve agricultural development and accelerate the redistribution to all our people. The ANC will develop proposals with regard to how the expropriation of land will be implemented taking into account all the things that are important such as the growth of our economy, agricultural production as well as food security.”
The contents of the January 8 Statement will form the basis of the State of the Nation Address to be presented by President Jacob Zuma in February.
After the presentation of the statement, the ANC will hold a National Executive Committee next week to nominate members of the National Working Committee and members of other sub-committees.
