African National Congress President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised that the ANC has a secret weapon to win the elections next year despite their detractors saying they will lose.
“The resilience of the ANC is also marked by embracing the challenges confronting every situation, crafting a plan for each situation that we face,” Ramaphosa said addressing the ANC’s manifesto review final leg in Alberton.
“As it is now our election comrades have mapped out precisely how we are going to fight the election in every ward.”
He said the ANC will start deploying boots on the ground and fight the elections in every ward.
They will rollout their election machinery in the next few months to get them the votes they need.
He said even former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, who is now the head of the ANC Electoral Committee, agreed that people undermine the support of the ruling party.
Ramaphosa said despite its detractors saying the ANC has not been doing well, the by-election results have shown that the party is still supported after snatching some of the wards.
“I was talking with comrade Kgalema earlier and he said people often undermine the ANC. They always dismiss the ANC.They just don’t know our DNA. They don’t know what makes the ANC move and roll,” Ramaphosa said.
“They don’t know that when the ANC gets into gear, when the ANC decides that it is going to move you will never beat this machinery that we have. We are the only organisation with a very powerful election machinery.”
But the ANC election campaign will start getting into top gear soon.
Ramaphosa said ANC head of elections Mdumiseni Ntuli has demonstrated how the party will win the elections by fighting it in every ward.
The ANC has presence in every part of the country. It will be mobilising its election machinery to fight the elections.
The next phase is to prepare for the national and provincial elections.
“Comrade Mdu Ntuli outlined that map, shared it with me and I gained confidence that they don’t know what our secret weapon is going to be to win this election and we do have one,” said Ramaphosa.
He added that the party will continue to strengthen its structures and mobilise members to campaign in every ward.
“The ANC is north to south, west to east, wherever you go, however you go, you will find the ANC. We are, therefore, going to deploy our boots on the ground and we are going to overwhelm them, and that is why we are certain victory is assured,” said Ramaphosa.
The ANC had been conducting manifesto reviews in the last few months following the launch in Soweto.
Ramaphosa said this was a useful exercise as their members told them what worked, what did not work and where the party can improve.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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