Despite Gauteng and KZN PECs facing disbandment, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has blamed party branches, saying they are the reason why they lost May 29, 2024 national and provincial elections because they are weak.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers
Despite Gauteng and KZN PECs facing disbandment, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has blamed party branches, saying they are the reason why they lost May 29, 2024 national and provincial elections because they are weak.
Ramaphosa was delivering his January 8 statement at Mandela Park Stadium in Khayelitsha, Cape Town where the ANC was celebrating its 113th anniversary in Cape Town.
He explained some of the reasons why the party lost the elections.
He said lack of basic service delivery and factors including crime, poverty, gender-based violence, high cost of living, and unemployment are some of the reasons why the ANC's electoral support declined over the years, especially in 2024.
"One of the reasons we lost the elections is because our branches have become weak, they are not functioning the way they are supposed to. That is why we lost elections.
"The ANC branches have led to the party losing its ability to govern on its own," he said.
The ANC lost last year's elections which saw its electoral support declining to 40% nationally. This was the first time that the party lost the elections since democracy.
Facing over 22,000 supporters and members at the stadium, Ramaphosa acknowledged that losing the elections was a strategic setback but said they would come back stronger.
He told the people of Khayelitsha that without an effective response, such a setback can halt or derail the progress of socio-economic transformation.
"The reasons for the electoral decline include the state of the economy reflected in the crisis of unemployment and social reproduction, poor basic services and deficiencies of capable, ethical and responsive governance and the ANC’s organisational weaknesses and damaged brand," he said.
He said the people's daily challenges will be a thing of the past as they have started mapping out ways to alleviate the dire situations in communities.
Ramaphosa's remarks ahead of the possible disbandment of Gauteng and KZN PECs for losing the elections. The ANC blamed them for the loss.
The ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the two provinces will know whether they will be dissolved or not next year, after January 8.
But the two provinces are fighting back.
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