ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa said his party has listened and has heard what the people need.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected opinion polls pointing to declining support for the ANC, insisting the party will outperform its rivals in Wednesday’s local government elections. But as he urged supporters to turn out in numbers, he also warned that a packed rally was no guarantee of votes at the ballot box.
Addressing thousands of supporters at the ANC’s final election rally in Mdantsane, kuGompo City, Ramaphosa described the gathering as evidence that the party remained strong and would continue governing the Eastern Cape.
“We are three days from a very important election. Many people are saying the ANC is on a downward spiral, but from what I am seeing here, the ANC is on the rise and on November 4, we are going to show those that say the ANC is going to lose,” he said.
The Siyanqoba Rally was the party’s final push to mobilise support ahead of the November 4 vote. Ramaphosa urged volunteers not to become complacent or assume that everyone attending the rally would automatically vote for the ANC.
Ramaphosa warns against voter complacency
He said low turnout had contributed to the party’s performance in the 2024 national and provincial elections, when some supporters stayed away from voting because they believed the ANC would win.
“The final push is to make sure our people go all out and not make a mistake of thinking everyone here will vote for the ANC. In the 2024 election, many people didn’t go to vote because they thought the ANC had already won,” he said.
Ramaphosa thanked volunteers and candidates who had campaigned across the country, saying their engagements with communities had given the party a clearer understanding of voters’ concerns and expectations.
He said the ANC had listened to workers calling for better employment conditions, women raising concerns about gender-based violence and young graduates struggling to find jobs.
“We heard very clearly what the aspirations of our people are,” he said.
“We also heard the enthusiasm, as well as the encouragement of our people. We've heard them repeating that they want us to work diligently, to advance (their) lives.”
He said the party had also engaged traditional leaders, people with disabilities, residents, business owners and entrepreneurs about issues affecting their communities and livelihoods.
Ramaphosa singled out youth unemployment, saying young people had told the party that many remained without work despite obtaining university degrees.
ANC president dismisses opinion polls
The president argued that the ANC’s national footprint and presence in every ward gave it an advantage over other political organisations, which he dismissed as “Mickey Mouse parties”.
His remarks came after polling pointed to the ANC facing a difficult contest in several municipalities. Ramaphosa has previously dismissed polling suggesting the ANC could lose ground, insisting the party would win the local government elections.
“There are those who think they are educated, who tell us about surveys that show them the ANC will collapse; there is no truth to that,” he said in isiXhosa.
“The ANC will come out tops, it will do better than the other parties. I call them Mickey Mouse parties. They go around whining or talking gibberish, but we have listened to our people,” he added.
Ramaphosa also defended the party’s councillor selection process, saying communities had been allowed to choose their preferred representatives rather than leaving the decisions to party structures.
“In the end, we said we are not only going to listen, we are going to want our people to elect the people they want to represent them, the councillors that will represent them.
“We are the only party that said, ‘as the party machinery, we are not going to select councillor candidates for the people, we will allow the people to select the candidates’,” he said.
Ramaphosa acknowledges ANC shortcomings
The president acknowledged that the ANC had fallen short of some communities’ expectations but maintained that its record in government demonstrated progress.
He said the party was prepared to take responsibility for its shortcomings and work harder to address service delivery failures and improve people’s lives.
“We are the ones who will say, yes, we have had shortcomings. We have done a lot, but we didn’t go as far as our people wanted. But we know we have to work even harder.
“So, we stand here to say the ANC is ready to do more; the ANC is ready to address the aspirations of our people.”
He reiterated the party’s election commitments, including growing the economy, creating jobs and improving municipal service delivery.
Ramaphosa also pledged to tackle the treatment of political office as an entitlement, warning that councillors and mayors who failed to perform would be removed.