Cyril wants ANC election strategy ‘portraying people’s reality’

Now realising that the image of a liberation movement that kept the ANC above the water for the last 24 years will no longer sustain it, president Cyril Ramaphosa wants the party to get down on its knees in front of the voters in 2019.

Ramaphosa said the new 2019 ANC election manifesto has to depict the people’s experiences and be informed by their needs. The party has to portray this reality rather than displaying itself as a liberation movement that led the struggle against apartheid.

The president had asked for a new election campaign approach that would appeal to the voters.

As things stand, the governing party is headed for what has been generally seen as the toughest election post-1994 history.

Many political experts suggested that what happened at the 2016 local government elections, when the ANC lost crucial metros – Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay – to the opposition, could be emulated in some provinces next year. They also said that national government could soon be run through a coalition rather than a single party.

Addressing the ANC’s election manifesto workshop yesterday in Irene, outside Pretoria, Ramaphosa said they would canvass as many views as possible to contribute towards the manifesto draft.

It had to reflect many voices but one message and the document must be revolutionary, similar to the 1955 Freedom Charter, he said, adding that the ANC would be honest about its failures but would ensure that the manifesto represented the lived experiences of South Africans since 1994.

The party also sought advice from political analysts, economists, and academics. Ramaphosa asked the experts to rigorously interrogate the manifesto to ensure it reflected reality.

Once finalised, the draft manifesto would be circulated to party structures that would then make inputs before the final document was adopted. Following that, the party would establish election teams at branch, regional, provincial and national levels and this could culminate in election conferences and the launch of ANC’s election campaign.

At national level, Ramaphosa would be the face of the party. Already, some provinces have their election heads such as Ebrahim Rasool in the Western Cape.

Khaya Magaxa, ANC Western Cape acting chairperson, said the province was busy consolidating its programme for the 2019 election.

“We have finished establishing election structures. We [will] have the head of elections [and] the [provincial election team] taking over the election campaign. We will be commanded by the election chairperson.”

Magaxa said the issue of replacement of the provincial chairperson was not a priority, adding that a provincial general council would be held to elect someone who would fill the gap left by suspended chairperson Marius Fransman.

Some within the ANC were asking Rasool to stand for the position while others preferred Mcebisi Skwatsha. But rumours still persisted that the party was busy recruiting DA Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille.

Magaxa said although he was acting in the position, he was not available to contest the post.

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