Picture: Michel Bega
President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the keynote address at the party’s annual birthday celebrations in Cape Town on Saturday.
The ANC turned 113 on 8 January, normally celebrated with a week of activities and fundraising.
Ramaphosa will deliver a speech, described as the January 8 statement, which outlines the party’s priorities and gives marching orders to all ANC members.
This year, the statement occurs with the ANC in a coalition government described as the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The celebrations will take place at the Mandela Park stadium in Khayelitsha.
Around 20 000 people are expected to attend the event.
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The deputy national chairperson of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Thulas Nxesi, said the party’s secretary general, Solly Mapaila, was not at the ANC’s 113th birthday because he was attending the inauguration of the Venezuelan president.
Mapaila has been seen as a controversial figure in the Tripartite Alliance because of his views on the GNU.
He has been locking horns with the ANC’s leadership, describing them as traitors.
He has often warned the ANC to be careful of its relationship with the DA.
Mapaila announced last year that the SACP will contest local government elections in 2026.
Nxesi said the SACP is committed to the alliance but still believes in the re-configuration of the alliance.
He said all members of the Tripartite Alliance should lead the National Democratic Revolution (NDR).
He said the SACP had no intention to leave the alliance. “We must not engage in populist name-calling insults.”
President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) Zingiswa Losi said the federation was still in an alliance with the ANC because the party has championed workers’ rights.
He said the ANC had also made it possible for the unemployed to receive R350. He criticised those who left the ANC and described them as hungry for power.
South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) president Richard Mkhungo thanked the ANC for forming the Government of National Unity (GNU) and said it is an opportunity to stabilise the country.
He said Sanco will support the ANC in the upcoming local government elections.
Sanco is part of the Tripartite Alliance.
A representative of the ANC in the Western Cape said the Human Rights Commission must investigate the living conditions of people in Khayelitsha. He says the Democratic Alliance (DA) is the enemy of the revolution.
Mantashe clarified that the January 8 statement is a message from the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), not the president.
There is no sign of the Jewish community as the event begins with inter-faith prayers.
However, a representative from the Muslim faith will offer his prayers as announced.
There was a slight uproar when a Rastafarian priest was announced as one who would also be offering prayers.
A representative from the African spiritual community is said to be stuck in traffic.
When he prayed, the Rasta priest told the crowd to keep quiet: “I am now talking to God ANC.” He thanked God for the ANC’s “great deeds” and likened the ANC to the prophets of old. He also asked for strength for the ANC and shouted, “Jah.”
As the interfaith prayers were wrapped up, the sangoma who was supposed to say prayers was still absent.
ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe said the ANC is not “instant” porridge but must be boiled.
He said the party learned this while doing door-to-door campaigns in Cape Town.
His remarks come after ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile and his security team were told to leave a house where they were conducting a door-to-door campaign.
As the ANC’s birthday celebrations are underway at the Mandela Park stadium, Mantashe asked the choir to lead the celebration with a hymn and the national anthem.
The ANC was founded in 1912 in Bloemfontein. Since it was founded in a church, it was largely considered a Christian organisation.
“It is quite a great joy to have the 113th anniversary of the formation of our great movement here in the Western Cape… we remember the contributions that the founders of our great movement made 113 years ago and reflect on the history, achievements and setbacks as an organisation,” Ramaphosa said.
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