ZCZC
BFF-02
SAFRICA-POLITICS-VOTE
Ruling ANC kickstarts S.Africa election season
DURBAN, South Africa, Jan 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – South African President
Cyril Ramaphosa is set to unveil the ruling ANC party’s election manifesto on
Saturday in front of tens of thousands of supporters, marking the start of
four months of hectic campaigning.
The African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled since the end of
apartheid 25 years ago, is tipped to win the vote despite faltering support,
internal divisions and a sluggish economy.
The party of Nelson Mandela suffered a slump in popularity under the
scandal-ridden presidency of Jacob Zuma, who was ousted last February after
nine years at the helm.
But a recent IPSOS survey predicted the ANC could garner as much as 61
percent of the vote in May’s national and provincial elections.
At the legislative level, that would put it on a par with its performance
in 2014, when it picked up 62 percent. In South Africa’s parliament, the
party which wields a majority of seats also selects the president.
The forecast upswing is pinned on the appointment of moderate pro-business
reformer Ramaphosa as president after ANC lawmakers forced Zuma to resign as
corruption scandals piled up.
“We recognise that in recent times, our movement has fallen short of our
people’s expectations,” Ramaphosa said in an address earlier this week
marking 107 years since the party was founded.
“In this manifesto, we have a clear plan for growth and faster progress…
It is a plan to unite the country, grow the economy, create jobs and reduce
inequality.”
On Saturday, the party expects 85,000 activists to turn out at a soccer
stadium in the coastal city of Durban for the launch of the manifesto.
In a bruising internal party battle, Ramaphosa won a power struggle to
succeed Zuma, whose favoured candidate was Zuma’s former wife.
MORE/SSS/0839 hrs
ZCZC
BFF-03
SAFRICA-POLITICS-VOTE-2-LAST
Senior party officials have this week fanned out across the surrounding
Kwa-Zulu Natal province, spreading the message of a revived and unified
party.
– Party revival? –
“We are confident that this manifesto will lead to the renewal of the
mandate of the ANC to govern,” ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule told
reporters.
“The unity is there. It is visible.”
Launching its election manifesto in heavily-populated KwaZulu-Natal —
Zuma’s home province and former stronghold — is a strategic choice after
last year’s divisions.
Ramaphosa has publicly tried to mend ties, sitting next to Zuma and
praising him at party events.
In policy terms, the manifesto is set to underline the ANC’s commitment to
land reform to tackle racial inequality — setting the stage for one of the
election’s fiercest battlegrounds.
One of Ramaphosa’s flagship pledges is to change the constitution to allow
land to be taken from minority white owners without compensation — a plan
aimed at attracting landless black voters but that has alarmed many foreign
investors.
The South African economy is forecast to have grown just 0.7 percent last
year, with unemployment remaining at record highs of over 27 percent.
The ANC will face the main opposition Democratic Alliance and the radical
leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party in the election.
Both parties hope to make gains due to the ANC’s poor recent record and
discontent over stark post-apartheid inequality. But they have struggled to
dent the ruling party since Zuma’s fall.
“We are definitely going to win the election,” said Lungile Nogabe, a ANC
supporter and businessman after driving to Durban from the central city of
Bloemfontein.
“We lost support as our members were disappointed, especially by
corruption. Now that we have a new president, you will see wonders.”
BSS/AFP/SSS/0840 hrs