ANC NEC meeting to review progress with 2019 manifesto, Phala Phala, energy crisis

07 July 2023 - 15:45
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Though the ANC believes it has done well, secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says it will be honest with the public should its review reveal it has failed to fulfil its promises. File photo.
Though the ANC believes it has done well, secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says it will be honest with the public should its review reveal it has failed to fulfil its promises. File photo.
Image: Ziphozonke Lushaba

Looking forward to next year's polls, the ANC is this weekend holding its national executive committee (NEC) meeting to, among other things, take stock of the electoral promises it made in its 2019 elections manifesto.

The meeting is also expected to debate the acting public protector's controversial Phala Phala report.

The party wants to check how it has fared in the promises it made to its voters in its elections manifesto five years ago.

Though the party believes it has done well, secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says it will be honest with the public should its review reveal it has failed to fulfil its promises.

The idea is to use the review to gauge priority areas before drafting a new manifesto for the 2024 general election.

“We’re reviewing the manifesto, looking at how far we have gone. We know that we have done very well in terms of the manifesto,” said Mbalula earlier this week.

“We are going to say how far we have gone growing South Africa together, what have been the impediments in terms of this task before we even get to next year, how far have we gone.

“The ANC has gone to the extent of inviting the statistician-general, Risenga Maluleke, to its NEC meeting to provide accurate numbers, especially on the economy and employment.”

Mbalula says the ANC has been criticised for failing its people in the years it has been in power, with some saying the current administration has in the past five years only managed to create 21,000 jobs.

“So we have asked Risenga [Maluleka] from Stats SA to come to the NEC when we review the manifesto from a point of view of statistics, not thumb-sucking,” he said.

“With all the challenges we have got, what has this economy done, where is it now, just on the aspect of job creation? I’m not talking about hearsay. If we created 20,000 jobs that should be fine, we did and we respond to that question.”

Mbalula says the ANC has to have tangible proof of work the party has done before it can go out to ask South Africans to return it to power in next year’s polls.

“On a whole range of issues, we have promised in the manifesto we will say how far have we gone, what have we done amid all these challenges, because at the end when you say to the people re-elect me you must start first by saying as the incumbent what have you done,” said Mbalula. 

The NEC meeting will discuss the energy crisis and employment crisis, among other things.

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