Ramaphosa outlines 6 priorities for ANC in 2025

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has outlined six priorities for the party with its renewal top of the agenda.

Addressing thousands of supporters at the ANC's birthday celebration at the Mandela Park stadium in Khayelitsha on Saturday, Ramaphosa said the ANC faced an existential crisis and had to either renew or perish on the back of a poor electoral showing in the recent national elections.

He said the ANC must do much more work with greater urgency and determination, adding the cornerstone of the party's renewal agenda remains building its capacity to discharge its historical mission.

“This includes strengthening the presence of the ANC in communities through strong ANC branches as centres of development that engage and listen to citizens and work with them to address challenges and grievances.” 

The ANC has previously been accused of having an inward focus with little care for South Africa's communities. The ANC's support dropped to 40% in the last elections after decades of majority rule. The party has been fingered as the architect of state capture with Ramaphosa having labelled the party as accused number one in corruption. 

He said the ANC must invest in the ideological development of its members, adding that improving their skills will enhance the movement’s ability to implement its manifesto and govern the country effectively and ethically.

“Renewal is as much about fixing the ANC as it is about improving the quality of governance and service delivery and fast-tracking fundamental socioeconomic transformation.” 

To foster a culture of ethics and integrity he said the party had strengthened the terms of reference of the integrity commission.

Last year the ANC introduced an appeals process for recommendations made by the commission against its members. This as the commission of elders had long held the view that the national executive committee and its leaders had at times ignored its recommendations and failed to discuss or endorse its reports.

The ANC recently avoided disciplining some of its leaders who had been found wanting by the state capture commission, failing to discuss their refusal to appear before the disciplinary committee. 

“The membership system of the ANC is also being overhauled to ensure that the movement attracts into its ranks the kind of people who are willing to serve the people of South Africa. The criteria for membership and screening process to rid the ANC of criminals is an important part of the renewal process. This includes tightening and enforcing the leadership election processes,” Ramaphosa said.

Fixing local government and ensuring water and energy security was a critical component of its priorities, the ANC leader said, highlighting that the ANC-led government had resolved the load-shedding crisis which had crippled the economy, with the country l facing a year without blackouts.

He said load-shedding has been supplanted by the crisis of water security that poses a similar, if not greater threat to the quality of life and economic prospects of all South Africans.

“Indeed, water is life and sanitation is dignity. Accordingly, we have decided to elevate water security as a priority task for 2025. We are confident that drawing on the lessons learnt from dealing successfully with the seemingly intractable challenge of load-shedding, we will be able to deal with this crisis.” 

Another task which featured greatly in the ANC's manifesto document is the high levels of unemployment and job creation. Ramaphosa said public employment programmes play a vitally important role in mitigating the unacceptably high levels of unemployment.

“However, they do not replace the need for long-term jobs through growth and investment by both public and private sectors. Manufacturing is the most reliable sustained employment creator with the highest jobs multiplier. Therefore, we must revitalise our industrial capacity. We must build an infrastructure and export economy focused on manufacturing globally competitive goods and global business services and invest in technological capabilities.

“We commend progress made in improving energy security and enhancing the stability and efficiency of our logistics networks — our ports and rail — as catalysts of economic growth and industrialisation. We urge government to accelerate the leveraging of our critical minerals endowment working with other countries in Southern Africa,” he said.

Recognising the high levels of crime, Ramaphosa said the recruitment of 10,000 new police officers has contributed to improving community safety while the interventions have been bolstered by initiatives such as Operation Shanela and Operation Vala Umgodi which is dealing decisively with illegal mining activities.

“We welcome the establishment of the Border Management Authority (BMA) and commend the effective interventions it is making to ensure our territorial integrity and prevent the violation of immigration laws.” 

Another priority includes the hosting of a national dialogue which will create an opportunity to discuss and find solutions to the difficult issues of economic exclusion, social inequality and societal marginalisation.

“Only by doing this can we ensure that the national dialogue rekindles and restores public participation as the expression of people’s power.” 

The ANC's sixth priority includes building a better Africa and a better world. Ramaphosa said the ANC remains committed to the principles of international solidarity, human rights, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism and Pan-Africanism.

“We are committed to strengthening the capabilities of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), particularly on the 45th anniversary of its formation.” 

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