By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the needs of the South Africans are better met today than they were at the end of the apartheid era.
Ramaphosa was speaking at the ANC Manifesto 2019 review at Dobsonville Stadium, Soweto on Sunday.
The rally was aimed at giving a report back to its supporters on the progress the party has made in implementing its commitment post 2019.
“We want to be as transparent and open as possible about where we have made progress, but also about the mistakes,” he told the crowd at the stadium.
He listed some of the problems the country has faced recently, including the Covid-19 pandemic which led to the loss of 100,000 lives and two million jobs, as well as riots in 2021 in which more than 350 people were killed, floods and finally the economic consequences of the conflict in Ukraine.
“We are not making excuses but this is the reality we have had to face,” said Ramaphosa.
The South African electorate is approaching its seventh democratic national election in 2024, one which is being touted as a watershed moment.
For the first time in South Africa’s (SA) history, independent candidates will be allowed to contest individually. This was made possible by the Electoral Amendment Act that became a law in June 2023, and is already being challenged in court.
Ramaphosa also said the scourge of illegal mining and influx of illegal immigrants was negatively impacting the country.
He said the government was in the process of implementing programmes that will address the problem.
These programmes will see minister of police Bheki Cele and minister of home affairs Arron Motsoaledi’s departments working together to address the scourge.
According to the department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE), the economy lost about R49 billion in 2019 to illegal mining. It added that mining companies spend over R2 billion on security just to prevent these illicit activities.
We will work together with South African Police Services to address zama zama’s in our towns and address criminality. Foreign national programmes have been initiated and illegal foreigners are being arrested. Better know that from now on, if you are not documented, you will be arrested,” he said.
Ramaphosa added that the ANC was currently strengthening policies that help the affected ministries to effectively do their jobs.
Youth League President Collen Malatji added that police visibility in the affected towns was important to ensure that illegal foreigners and illegal miners were removed from illegally occupied buildings.
“We cannot allow illegal foreigners to take over our towns. Police and defence ministers must go and clean out all those buildings,” he said.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the ANC should place its focus in ending load-shedding which has seen an increase in criminality in the province and many law enforcement deaths.
Lesufi warned that if the governing party is not able to address load-shedding, it risked losing the province to opposition parties.
“We are committing ourselves and the government that I have the honour to lead, that all those communities that have transformers that are broken, stolen, we are going to those communities to install new transformers to ensure they are connected,” Lesufi said.