ANC set to launch elections manifesto in Durban on Saturday
As the party prepares for its manifesto launch at the Moses Mabhida on Saturday, secretary general Fikile Mbalula said even at its best, polls have never predicted a favourable outcome for the governing party.
FILE: An African National Congress (ANC) flag flies outside a polling station in Langa, near Cape Town, on 1 November 2021. Picture: AFP
JOHANNESBURG - After spending months reviewing its 2019 manifesto, the African National Congress (ANC) will this weekend table its offering to the electorate ahead of the May 29 polls.
ANC supporters and members of society weighed in on the 2019 manifesto in preparation for this year.
Over 10 million people backed the party during the previous general elections – with the ANC now facing bleak polls, which in the main suggest it will go below 50%.
As the party prepares for its manifesto launch in Durban on Saturday, secretary general Fikile Mbalula said even at its best, polls have never predicted a favourable outcome for the governing party.
The picture of the ANC during this campaign period couldn’t be more different from the last general elections. In 2019, Ace Magashule was the ANC’s secretary general and former president Jacob Zuma was still associated with the party.
His successor Cyril Ramaphosa, then polling higher than the party itself was seemingly campaigning for an ANC win by himself.
Fast forward to 2024 and there seems to be a greater unity of purpose in Ramaphosa’s national executive. Magashule has been booted out of the party and Zuma is giving the ANC nightmares as the face of the uMkhonto weSizwe party.
But in recent days the ANC, in events building up to Saturday’s manifesto launch has been on the ground in KwaZulu-Natal, where Zuma is expected to affect it the most.
This as analyst Professor Susan Booysen points out has been a major power play by the party.
“In crisis situations like this they deploy people and to go in on the ground, and to counter the rival mobilisation movement.”
Ramaphosa is set to launch the party’s manifesto at the Moses Mabhida Stadium around midday on Saturday.