[DEBATE] : No alternative to the ANC - Jacob Zuma

[Dominic Tweedie]

No alternative to the ANC


Jacob Zuma, ANC Today, 3 October 2008


We have proven that South Africa is a stable democratic country that
is ruled and governed on the basis of solid democratic principles. As
we move forward we must be united in consolidating the democratic
victories. We must be vigilant at all times about possible pitfalls
that may lie ahead of us, and understand that to succeed we will need
to unite and speak with one voice.

We must not be diverted from the immediate tasks and urgent challenges
that face us. We must all focus on supporting our government in the
important tasks of fighting poverty, crime, delivering essential basic
services to the people as well as our efforts to create a
developmental state.

Together with our allies we have an urgent and important obligation to
contest the democratic elections next year. This is a significant
task, when we approach these elections we must approach them as a
united and solid force with a determination to deliver an overwhelming
democratic victory for the ANC. We need to be of one mind and purpose.
We need to be clear about our strategic objectives in relation to our
election strategy.

We carry a weighty responsibility, to honour through our actions the
proud traditions of struggle that have characterised our Alliance over
decades. Most importantly, we carry a responsibility to the people of
this country, and to the generations that will follow, to lead a
national democratic revolution that will banish from our society all
forms of discrimination, oppression and deprivation.

The conference in Polokwane provided a clear direction which we must
undertake to create a better life. We agreed on policies that our
government in 2009 should implement to accelerate social and economic
transformation. We have made it clear that the creation of decent work
opportunities will be the primary focus of our economic policies. In
seeking much-needed foreign and domestic investments, we will not
compromise the rights of workers and the poor and the national
democratic revolution.

We will continue to work with business and labour to build a vibrant,
resilient and sustainable economy. We want to focus on job creation
because while many families have access to social grants and other
poverty alleviation programmes, many of these households and
communities remain trapped in poverty. They are dependent on the state
and unable to access the opportunities created by the positive
economic climate.

We have done exceptionally well in providing means for such families
to survive, through a massive social security programme, extending
social grants to more then 12 million South Africans to date,
especially children. We have stated that we are building a
developmental state and not a welfare state. Therefore our
anti-poverty programmes must seek to empower people to take themselves
out of poverty, while creating adequate social nets to protect the
most vulnerable in our society such as older persons, people with
disabilities and vulnerable children.

We have also stated clearly that we want to accelerate the land reform
programme. We want land reform to be linked to rural development
programmes. People should not just be given land and left on their
own. They must be assisted by government through various programmes to
ensure that the land is utilised optimally to fight poverty.

We are not going to allow crime to divert our attention from fighting
poverty and building a better life for our people. Based on successes
during the struggle against apartheid, we have decided to revive
street committees to support our police in fighting crime. The war
against crime is everybody's business; it cannot be left to government
or the police alone.

We have seen the value of investing in education and see the gains in
all developing countries in Africa and beyond who undertook this path.
The literacy rate is high in developing countries where a concerted
effort was made to prioritise education. We intend to promote access
to education from the pre-school to tertiary level. Education and
skills development are powerful tools that will assist us to fight
poverty.

We have reiterated the call for state owned enterprises to revisit
their role of training our young people. Many artisans in our country
were trained in what was then called parastatals, and this made an
enormous contribution to the country's skills base. We are not saying
other business entities should not invest in skills development, but
we encourage a return to what worked successfully in the past.

Health care is no doubt one of the most important areas of
intervention. A healthy population is the cornerstone of development.
We want to ensure that access to health becomes an achievable goal in
rural and urban areas as well as established and informal settlements.
>From primary to secondary health care, to the revitalisation of our
hospitals and clinics, the health for all campaign will be our
rallying cry in 2009.

We also want more action with regards to the reduction of HIV
infections, in effective treatment for tuberculosis and other
infectious diseases, as well as widespread HIV prevention, treatment
and support programmes. Our Polokwane resolutions are extensive and
far-reaching and should enable us to move a great step forward towards
achieving our goals.

We at Luthuli House will now work flat out to renew and build the
organisation and prepare for an overwhelming victory in the 2009 so
that we can improve on our already exceptional record of service
delivery. We are going to focus all our energies on getting the ANC
ready for elections. We will prove that there is no alternative to the
ANC. Nobody has a better programme than the ANC for the social and
economic transformation of this country.

Jacob G Zuma, President, African National Congress