ANC members expressed jubilation and relief that their organisation had filled the Mbombela Stadium to the brim for the party’s January 8 statement on Saturday.
Adorned in the party’s colours of black, green and yellow, Susan Setsoto, from Soweto, said she was confident that the ANC would win the upcoming national general elections.
“We came all the way from Gauteng to support our comrades in Nelspruit. I must commend them. They single-handedly filled the stadium by themselves. We just topped it off,” she told The Star.
Setsoto pleaded with the ANC leadership to sort out its business if the party was serious about winning and maintaining its position in Parliament and in government as a whole.
She said South Africans were tired of hearing excuses from leaders instead of them coming up with tangible solutions.
“We need to solve the load shedding matter. We can’t go to another election with the Eskom matter hanging over our heads.
“At the last local elections, people were very clear that they don’t want load shedding, and that cost us many of the municipalities across the country, especially in our province, Gauteng.”
Ntokozo Dlamini, from uMlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, said the ANC would possibly get an overwhelming majority in the upcoming elections.
Dlamini said if the scenes of the Mbombela Stadium were anything to go by, their detractors should run with their tails between their legs.
“(Saturday’s) celebration was a proof enough that the majority of our people still have confidence and believe in us as an organisation.
“Ours is to fix our mistakes and bring back the confidence that they previously had in us,” she said.
On the question of former president Jacob Zuma’s decision not to support the ANC in the elections, Dlamini said she was disappointed in him as she had not been expecting Zuma to oppose the party.
“We respect uBaba in our province and we love him dearly, but he has hurt some of us by his decision to abandon the ANC.
“With so much support and respect he gets in our province, it’s going to be tough for us but we will do whatever it takes to retain the province,” she added.
Dlamini said it was important for the ANC to win the elections as it was the only party that had the interests of South Africans at heart.
Delivering his speech on Saturday, President Cyril Ramaphosa told scores of ANC supporters that the organisation would launch a formidable campaign that would resonate with citizens and every sector of society.
This, he said, was in an effort to get a decisive mandate from the people in order to continue advancing the transformation project.
“The ANC’s role in working with the people to liberate South Africa from the yoke of apartheid and to vastly improve the lives of millions over the last 30 years cannot be matched by any other party.
“No other party has both a clear vision for a better, more equal society and the capability to achieve it,” Ramaphosa said.
He further said that his organisation remained the only party of choice for all those who sought to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
He also weighed in on the instabilities in the coalition governments across the country which he said the people must avoid at all costs.
“The frustrating experience of dysfunctional coalition governments has shown that they don’t work for the people but for the political deal-makers intent on advancing their own personal interests,” Ramaphosa said. | The Star
SIPHO JACK
sipho.jack@inl.co.za