ANC vows to win Cape Town back

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the national executive committee (NEC) lekgotla pointed out that the ANC was confronting problems facing the country.

“Our efforts in the coming year must be on consolidating the gains of the Back to Basics programme and creating thriving and sustainable local economies. The ANC is confident of retaining all metropolitan municipalities we currently govern and will be fighting to win the City of Cape Town,” Mantashe said at a post ANC lekgotla briefing in Pretoria late on Wednesday.

The NEC lekgotla was held over three days.

On the economy, Mantashe said the creation of jobs and sustainable livelihoods remained a key priority of the ANC.

“While accepting the challenges emanating from a depressed global economic climate – the pressure on emerging markets and sluggish economic growth, bold actions are expected from government to grow the economy inclusively and avert the possibility of a credit ratings downgrade.”

He criticised the DA’s march for jobs through the Johannesburg CBD on Wednesday, and accused the opposition of not being concerned about job creation.

“They’re not concerned about jobs … they’re protecting capital. If they were focusing on jobs they would be marching to the Chamber of Mines, SA Chamber of Commerce and say to the private sector ‘you own 70 percent of the economy, please have clear programmes for creation of employment’,” said Mantashe.

The NEC deliberated at length on the recent emergence of racism and what seem to be racist individuals becoming more emboldened within South African society.

The party reiterated its historic mission of the creation of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society has always been premised on a vision of a nation united in diversity, not oblivious to the injustices of the past, but determined to engender and foster social cohesion.