ANC must change tactics after poll decline, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ANC’s electoral setback last year was a lesson for the party to review and change its tactical approaches.

Ramaphosa was addressing a 30th-anniversary commemoration of the death of former SA Communist Party (SACP) stalwart Joe Slovo held at Avalon Cemetery in Soweto on Monday.

Several ANC members, including Jeff Radebe and Lindiwe Sisulu, and foreign diplomats were in attendance. Various organisations also sent their messages of support to the SACP.

Election decline ‘not a defeat’

Ramaphosa told those gathered that as much as the SACP was opposed to the government of national unity (GNU), it and the ANC were still united behind the national democratic revolution and a transformation agenda.

The ANC declined to 40% in last year’s elections, down from 57% in 2019.

Ramaphosa said this did not signal the decline of the ANC nor represented a defeat of the national transformation agenda. Instead, it sent a clear message that the ANC must act differently, decisively, and with urgency to restore people’s confidence in the party.

This meant that the ANC must assess the balance of forces and “continuously analyse the terrain of our struggle and to review our tactical approaches accordingly”.

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GNU causes tension in the Tripartite Alliance 

The ANC’s poor performance forced it to form a government of national unity in which it shares power with nine other parties, including the Democratic Alliance.

But the ANC’s closeness to the DA within the GNU caused tension, particularly with the SACP which preferred the ANC to have rather co-operated with the Economic Freedom Fighters and other left-leaning black parties.

At its congress last year, the SACP announced its decision to contest the 2026 local government election separately from the ANC.

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While on Monday the atmosphere among alliance leaders was characterised by a spirit of camaraderie, shaking of hands, and the exchange of jokes; the tension was thick at the congress where the ANC was openly criticised.

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Ramaphosa said the country’s democracy was robust and it tolerated both the voices of those opposed to the GNU and those who supported it.

“While we face many challenges, our democratic state has created many ways in which we can tolerate each other, we can listen to each other and we can even take counsel from each other no matter how that counsel is delivered,” Ramaphosa said.

‘Joe chose the life of the struggle’

The president hailed Slovo as “exceptional in many ways”, and said many lessons should be drawn from his life.

“He was born into a world of privilege but he forsook that privilege and sought to join issue with us, to join the struggle on the side of the oppressed and the exploited. Joe chose the life of the struggle, the life of adversary, of exile and also of great personal sacrifice,” Ramaphosa said.

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