President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday kicked off the ANC’s manifesto launch activities by addressing throngs of the party’s volunteers in Inanda, north of Durban.
Ramaphosa, who laid a wreath at the grave of ANC founding president John Langalibalele Dube, told the volunteers who came forward to assist the ANC during the build-up to the upcoming general elections that their willingness to work for the ANC was proof that the ruling party was heading for victory.
“If you look at the opposition parties, including the smaller ones that have been recently launched, none of them have so many volunteers. As the ANC, we are expecting you to drive our elections campaign here in eThekwini.
“On Saturday we will be launching our manifesto here in Durban. The manifesto will demonstrate that in the last 30 years the ANC did a lot in terms of changing the lives of our people. The ANC manifesto will also show that the ANC is the only political party capable of taking this country forward,” he said.
Thousands of ANC supporters are expected to descend on the Moses Mabhida Stadium for the party’s manifesto launch.
The supporters, who are expected to arrive in Durban from the country’s nine provinces throughout the course of the week, have already booked most of the hotel rooms in the Durban CBD and surrounding areas.
By Monday afternoon, hotels and other accommodation facilities in Durban and uMhlanga were already fully booked.
The ANC, which has dominated the KwaZulu-Natal pollical landscape since the 2009 general elections, is facing a challenge from political parties such as the IFP, DA, EFF and the newly-formed MK party.
Ramaphosa told the ANC volunteers that the ruling party was “cruising to victory”. “Our message to all the opposition parties is very simple: they will be defeated,” he said.
Ramaphosa will announce the date for the upcoming elections within the next two weeks.
This article first appeared in The Witness.
The president said opposition parties ‘will be defeated’ in the upcoming elections
