By Doreen Mokgolo
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has called for political reform and reconfiguration of the Alliance – the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP – to ensure that it remains relevant and effective in modern society.
He was delivering his political report during the 55th ANC national conference held at Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Friday.
The political report reflects on what the party has done to implement the decisions it took at the last national conference.
During his address Ramaphosa said renewal of the ANC will be incomplete without the renewal of the entire movement, including how they deal with the issue of the reconfiguration of the alliance, the core of the movement.
“The matter of reconfiguration should be seen as leading to improving alliance relations at the national, provincial, regional and local level.
“We have observed tensions within the alliance,” he said, some of which arise from “our inability to engage effectively and regularly on key issues”.
Speaking about divisions in the party, he said they are caused by “fights between leaders due to the fight against corruption”.
The president said that to fight crime, they have prioritised building capacity within the law enforcement system to restore the capabilities and credibility of the National Prosecuting Authority, the South African Police Service, the Hawks and the State Security Agency.
“We will not allow gangs and extortionists to damage our public infrastructure or extort money from businesses,” he said.
The president referred to the ANC’s numbers falling in recent elections, especially the 2021 local government polls.
“For the first time in the history of our democracy, our share of the national vote dropped below 50%,” he said.
Another grave concern is a substantial decline in the proportion of young people registered to vote. In the 1999 election, 41% of people aged 18-19 were registered, by 2021, that number had fallen to 9%.
Pictured above: President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the ANC conference at Nasrec
Picture source: @tndaba
