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This year’s election campaign has been characterised by a level of intensity last experienced at the dawn of our democracy. The robustness of campaigning, at times manifesting itself through disinformation, downright crass opportunism and blatant lies, demonstrates how high the stakes are in this election. While others resorted to desperate antics to secure a shred of relevance, the ANC approached its campaign with the seriousness with which it approached every single election since 1994.
Such seriousness is demonstrated by the respect we accord to the voter by clearly articulating our manifesto commitments and engaging with them through direct voter contact and stakeholder engagements. Not once did we make reference to other parties when engaging with people on the campaign trail. Our manifesto became the singular reference on these engagements and was a product of a proud tradition of extensive consultation.
We go into these elections humbled by the trust South Africans continue to demonstrate in the ANC to transform their lives for the better. The road has not been easy and we have learnt hard lessons through our mistakes. Our leadership has engaged with South Africans from all walks of life and goes into these elections with a manifesto that builds on the progress of the past 25 years, and speaks to the dreams, hopes and aspirations of every South African.
The path we have traversed and the policy choices of the past two decades have given us the insight to conceptualise a grand plan for the future. The National Development Plan is a blueprint for the future and aptly describes that future as one where all citizens can proclaim in one voice and say: “We have created a home where everybody feels free, yet bound to others; where everyone embraces their full potential. We are proud to be a community that cares. We have received the mixed legacy of inequalities in opportunity and in where we have lived, but we have agreed to change our narrative of conquest, oppression and resistance. We felt our way towards a new sense of ourselves…”
Our manifesto is a building block towards that shared future. This is the plan to grow South Africa into a society where no citizen is left behind and socioeconomic emancipation is a lived reality.
President Cyril Ramaphosa led the campaign from the front, both in word and in deed. On the election trail, he engaged with South Africans from all walks of life. He saw the face of despair on those who felt left behind and struggled to make ends meet, yet he also saw the face of hope on those whose lives have been touched by the progress ushered in by successive ANC administrations.
The granny who could not contain her excitement in the muddy streets of an informal settlement and joked that the ANC was endowed with both handsome and ugly leaders barely realised the irony of her joke as it related to the broad church character of the ANC.
The president took in his stride harsh criticisms of the failures of government and reassured those who felt let down. Ramaphosa walked the streets of Mdantsane; listened to the plight of the people in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha; engaged in conversation with the people of Soweto, Riverlea and Tembisa; and experienced first-hand the squalor of Alexandra.
On the campaign trail, the president and the ANC leadership collective experienced the good, the bad and the ugly that continue to characterise our nation. We are under no illusion of the magnitude of the task at hand to rebuild the confidence of the nation. Our resolve to correct the mistakes of the past, decisively fight corruption and move at a brisker pace to deliver services has never been greater. No citizen must ever be left behind in our journey to grow South Africa and make a better life for all a living reality.
Despite the varying circumstances of our people, the ANC’s message has been well received. We are encouraged that ours is indeed a nation on the cusp of renewal and hope, and that the renewed mandate will build on the progress we have made.
When South Africans who had experienced first-hand the transformation brought about by successive ANC governments endorsed Ramaphosa and the ANC, they told moving stories of how they reached out to help others as their contribution to nation building. Others told of how they were inspired by actions that gave a tangible expression to the ANC’s progressive policies to create opportunities for those who were previously forgotten and disenfranchised.
From farmers to scientists, athletes to academics and ordinary South Africans, across the racial, cultural and sexual orientation divide, their stories demonstrated that we had made significant inroads in changing our narrative. This is the story that never gets told and a narrative that is shunned by those who want us to believe the lie that ours is a society in ruins. From a doctor who pioneered a middle-ear transplant to a successful 19-year-old farmer who boasts 800 cattle, these were South Africans who heeded the #ThumaMina call and used the empowerment made possible by the ANC to empower others. This is our story, told by a million others across the country.
Ours is a democracy built upon the blood of those who gave their lives so we could have the freedoms we enjoy today. We call on South Africans to become patriots and embrace their civic duty to exercise this prestigious right that so many died for. The right to vote is sacrosanct to our nation and is a symbol of the triumph of the human spirit against oppression and tyranny. There is no greater demonstration of a commitment to build a better society where civil liberties are protected and upheld than through the exercise of the right to vote. The ANC calls on all registered voters to come out in their numbers and vote for the ANC and a commitment to a better life for all.
