Programme Director, Deputy Chairperson, Comrade Gwen Ramokgopa
Secretary General, Comrade Gwede Mantashe
NEC Deployees here present
Provincial Secretary, Comrade David Makhura and Office Bearers
Members of the Provincial Executive Committee
ANC Regional Office Bearers
Leadership of the ANC Youth League
Leadership ANC Womens League
Leadership of the ANC Veterans League
Leadership of MKMVA
Leadership of the ANC Led-Alliance
Leadership of the Mass Democratic Movement
Leadership of Branches
Fellow comrades and friends
INTRODUCTION
Revolutionary greetings in the Year of Unity in Action towards Socio-economic Freedom!
Let me take this opportunity, on behalf of the Provincial Executive Committee, to welcome all delegates to this Special General Council.
I trust that all of you had a good break over the festive season, and that you are now ready to undertake, with even more determination, the tasks that lie before us.
As we begin our programme for this year, we need to take into account the tasks outlined in the January 8th Statement presented by President Jacob Zuma during the one hundred and first anniversary celebrations of our movement in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Let me to take this opportunity to congratulate the PEC of Kwa-Zulu Natal for successfully organizing our movements one hundred and first Anniversary celebrations.
Fellow comrades, we also meet here today after we held successful NEC, PEC and Cabinet Makgotla and the State of the Nation Address by the President of the Republic, Comrade Jacob Zuma.
At these Makgotla, we have as the ANC placed emphasis on the need for practical work and effective implementation within the next twelve months to ensure that we complete the ANC governments mandate, which started in 2009 and ending in 2014.
This task was emphasised during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) when President Zuma outlined progress made by the ANC government since 2009 and what still needs to be done to successfully complete our mandate in 2014.
Fellow comrades, this Special PGC is therefore convened by the PEC in order to outline how we are going to report back on the 53rd National Conference and table a programme of action that will give effect to the conference resolutions and directives. Central to our programme of action for this year is to roll out the political education and training programme in accordance with the Conference declaration on the Decade of the Cadre and prepare properly for the 2014 elections.
We should therefore emerge out of this Special PGC with unwavering and unbreakable unity of purpose and a single-minded focus on marshaling and galvanizing our supporters, members and activists to deliver a decisive victory for the ANC in the 2014 national and provincial elections.
We are confident that all of us gathered at this Special PGC fully understand the dangerous and feverish efforts of the strategic opponents and ideological enemies of our revolution here at home and abroad to try and dislodge the ANC from a position of incumbency. They are working day and night to unite existing opposition parties as well as to create new anti-ANC and anti-Alliance political voices as part of delegitimising the ANC as the parliament of the people. Their line of attack is that South Africans are worse off now than they were under apartheid. They do all these things with the hope that the ANC and its Alliance are too divided to can survive this political onslaught.
The ANCs response to any new developments in our political landscape must be strategic, principled, comprehensive and visionary. We must use our position of incumbency to effectively communicate the truth that two decades of ANC governance have considerably improved the quality of life of the overwhelming majority of our people.
We can only confront the threat posed by our strategic opponents if the ANC and the Alliance have maximum principled and programmatic unity. Whatever disagreements we will have from time to time, we must ensure that we are able to close ranks when we are called upon to defend the movement against the real threat of anti-transformation forces. Those who are ganging up against the ANC, the Alliance and the democratic movement should know that we will spare no energy in defending the ANC in order to ensure that it is returned overwhelmingly and decisively to power in 2014 elections so that it can continue to lead the task of building a national democratic society.
We must therefore emerge from this Special PGC with a clear programme of action and ensure that we speak with one voice on all matters. We cannot afford any discord in our ranks!
OVERVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR (2012)
Fellow comrades, the year 2012 was eventful and indeed significant in the history of our movement, the African National Congress.
Key among others, is that the year 2012 was the year of the centenary of our movement. As part of the centenary celebrations, we used the opportunity presented by the historic epoch of our centenary to celebrate the selfless struggles of our people to bring about national liberation.
Our celebrations, among others focused on honouring the twelve Presidents of our movement and their generations who fought tirelessly and selflessly for freedom and democracy in our country.
What was also inspiring was the centenary flame, which moved across the length and breadth of our country, and served as a symbol of unity and beacon of hope for the future of our Movement. Our centenary celebrations also assisted us to renew the historical values upon which the ANC was founded.
In our province we had an opportunity to celebrate the life of the former President Dr A.B. Xuma, former President O.R. Tambo, former Secretary General Walter Sisulu, Chris Hani, Ruth First, Joe Slovo, Bertha Gxowa and other outstanding revolutionaries who were torch bearers in our struggle.
Going forward, we must draw critical lessons from our centenary celebrations. These include the need to continually focus on building unity, renewing our core values, inculcating the spirit of learning and teaching particularly about where we come from and where we are going, so that many more people understand the incalculable price of our freedom and democracy.
Fellow comrades, in the year 2012, we also held the 4th National Policy Conference in Gallagher Estates in preparation for the 53rd National Conference. The PECs view is that the 53rd National Conference was a resounding success in that it adopted far-reaching strategic perspectives and policy positions that seek to renew the ANC and enhance its transformative capacity to lead society and govern effectively.
We are proud to say that Gauteng has contributed immensely in shaping the outcomes of both the National Policy Conference and the Elective Conference in Mangaung. Most of the policy proposals we adopted in the run-up to the National Conference are now formal strategic perspectives and policy positions of the movement.
On behalf of the PEC, I would like to congratulate all of you for contributing to the success of both Conferences by conducting yourselves with high levels of revolutionary discipline and engaging in robust and informed debates.
We must therefore continue to strengthen the movements capacity to implement its policies and resolutions so that the ANC continues to be an effective leader of the state and society in general. Once more we must make it clear that the ANC remains the only source of hope for a transformed South Africa. Its policies are made to benefit all the people of our country and continent. Its leaders are elected to serve the people loyally and selflessly.
Fellow comrades, the ANC remains a democratic organisation that thrives on the basis of vibrant internal democracy, robust debate and firm discipline. Again and again, we have been taught that members of the ANC must have views and debate issues robustly. We must continue to teach our comrades that to hold different views is not to be enemies. To have differences on leadership preferences is not a crime. There have been many ANC conferences before and there will be many more to come and all of us must learn to live with the fact that from to time to time we will have different views on any matter. Once a conference pronounces on a matter there is only one view: the view of the ANC.
We should teach all our members to understand and accept the full consequences of the ANCs internal democracy. Once Conference at any level - national, provincial, regional and local level - takes a decision on any matter, such a decision is binding on all members. This means that all pre-conference lobbying must end once a conference concludes its business. We cant have comrades who continue to meet in the name of the views they held before the conference. The NEC and the PEC must reign in all comrades like to be in permanent conference mode even when there is no conference!
We must continue to preach the correct politics of the ANC, that no one should be removed from a position of deployment because of the view they held in the run-up to a particular conference. Comrades get redeployed or removed only on the basis of performance or misconduct. We are aware that in some of our regions allegations of punishing those who held different views have surfaced. The PEC will visit all regions and zones to resolve any problems that have paralysed some of our structures in the run-up to the national conference.
It is in this context that at both our first PEC meeting and the PEC Lekgotla, we agreed that we must report back to all structures on the outcomes of the 53rd National Conference and communicate one message on the tasks that face our movement in the next fifteen months!
Allow me once more, to congratulate all those comrades who have been elected into the NEC in Mangaung. As Gauteng province, we shall rally behind the newly elected NEC under the leadership of President Zuma and ensure that it succeeds in the task of giving leadership to the entire movement and the nation at large. They shall lead all of us without exception and we must give them the necessary support as we have always done with all leaders elected by any duly constituted conference of the ANC at any level!
THE INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL BALANCE OF FORCES
Fellow comrades, as part of strengthening our advance towards a National Democratic Society we must correctly analyze, contextualize and respond adequately to the international and local balance of forces.
Our assessment, especially of the international balance of forces is that; not withstanding several notable risks, recent global trade and investment patterns are reshaping the world economy and international politics in a manner that could be favorable to our countrys development and indeed the development of our continent.
We note that since the 2007 global financial and economic crisis, global economic recovery appears to be slow. European countries in particular seem to be stuck in a slow growth trajectory, hence there are continuous discussions, which include among others the need for a common currency aimed at creating one market.
Fellow comrades, the slow economic growth experienced in Europe will have a negative impact on our exports to that part of the world.
This is of major concern to us because Europe is one of the leading destinations for our exports, catering for a diversified basket of products as opposed to only raw materials.
On the other hand, emerging economies such as India, China and Brazil are expected to be among the worlds leading economies by 2030. In decades to come these emerging economies will increase their share of world trade and investment.
This will gradually lead to the relative decline in the economic weight and political influence of the United States, Europe and Japan.
As a result of these developments a re-organization of the international diplomatic and governance architecture is imminent.
This reorganization will reflect new centers of political and economic influence; largely countries of the South and East.
In response to these developments South Africa needs to strengthen political, cultural, trade and diplomatic relations with countries of the South and the East, whilst continuing to interact with the rest of the world.
It is for this reason that we will continue to strengthen our countrys participation in BRICS and IBSA.
In this regard we look forward to the outcomes of the 5th BRICS Summit in March this year, to be hosted in Durban.
Equally and as indicated by President Zuma in the State of the Nation Address, we reaffirm our partnership with countries of the North especially the USA, Europe and Japan.
Despite challenges in other parts of the world, we are comforted by the reality that our Continent, Africa, is increasingly being viewed as a future growth region.
The Institute for Future Research at the University of Stellenbosch, with regards to our continent states that, Africa is a continent of continued rapid growth, with a very young population...with a rapidly urbanizing population...with good news, but many challenges.
In this regard, we note that the economies of Nigeria and Angola are among the fastest growing in our continent and may even surpass the South African economy, which at this stage is still a leading economy in our Continent.
We must with the rest of the continent accelerate the growth of Africas GDP and its contribution to the world economy.
Fellow comrades, in order for us to take advantage of the rapid economic growth experienced in Africa we must address several structural problems.
These include challenges of skills mismatch, the need to improve infrastructure networks, transport linkages and governance structures, all of which increase the cost of doing business and slow investment into our continent.
We must continue to encourage South African companies to venture into other parts of our continent, for business purposes.
We must also increase the capacity of our industries to meet global demand through rapid industrialization.
We must also strengthen investment in innovation and value added manufacturing so as to increase our global competitiveness.
In order to ensure rapid industrialization, we must spend on the infrastructure budgets, including in infrastructure budgets in our municipalities.
With regard to international solidarity, our struggle for liberation drew massive solidarity among fraternal organizations and people who stood by us during our hour of need.
We must therefore continue to strengthen our relations with these organization and people and also support all efforts towards international solidarity. This includes supporting the oppressed and the marginalized in the world.
In this regard as the ANC we must continue to be a reliable ally and offer a beacon of hope to all those fighting for a just, humane and better world order. Informed by this understanding we will continue to work within multilateral structures in pursuit of the goal of a Better Africa and a Better World.
We will continue to maintain strong relations and learn from the experiences of other former liberation movements such as Frelimo, SWAPO and Chama cha Mapinduzi, which whom we share a rich liberation heritage.
We will continue to support the people of Palestine in their struggle for self-determination within the framework of a two state solution. Further, we will continue to support any efforts to bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East.
As the ANC we will also continue to deepen our contribution towards the renewal of the African Continent through actively supporting programmes of the African Union and SADC as well as the implementation of the NEPAD programme.
We also reaffirm our support for the people of Western Sahara in their struggle for self-determination.
We condemn any form of actions that undermine democracy and peace processes particularly, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Central African Republic and the South Sudan and Sudan.
Comrades, this year we had the opportunity of hosting the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
We take this opportunity to congratulate the Local Organizing Committee for a successful tournament.
We equally congratulate Bafana-Bafana for making progress into the quarter finals! Of course, we are disappointed that they did not reach the finals, which is where the teams belong. We urge them to work hard in order to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup to be staged in Brazil.
We thank the people of our province and the country for warmly embracing our African brothers and sisters during the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
The agenda of African unity has indeed been enhanced, through the hosting of this tournament!
OUR IMMEDIATE ORGANIZATIONAL TASKS
Comrades, as we have already indicated, our immediate task is to report back on the outcomes of the 53rd National Conference, rollout an implementation plan and urgently put organizational machinery in place for the 2014 elections.
Key among the resolutions of Mangaung Conference is the need to effect a radical and decisive shift in the pace and content of socio-economic freedom.
The new Preface of the Strategy and Tactics emphasizes the need for radical change during the second phase of our transition to a national democratic society. We must use incumbency and political power to speedily address the persistent challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. Failure to do this will result in the erosion of the gains we have made since 1994.
Related to this is the need to continue building a capable and developmental state that is able to mobilize society towards a common goal and direct resources towards development.
As argued in the National Development Plan, we need to radically improve governments performance! This will require that we improve the capacity of government and the ANC to monitor the implementation of programmes.
This work includes strengthening the technical capacity of our public servants and indeed those we deploy in government.
BUILDING A STRONG AND UNITED ANC
Fellow comrades, in order to realize the goals we have set for ourselves, we need a strong, united and vibrant ANC that continues to be rooted in communities, that is able to be an effective leader of society and the state.
We must also build strong Leagues of the ANC, as part of strengthening our movements focus on the tasks of the National Democratic Revolution.
The role of the Leagues as we prepare for the national elections in 2014 will be very crucial. This is because both the youth and women represent two critical constituents we must target in these elections.
Fellow comrades, we must express outrage at the rising levels of violence against women and children in our society. We congratulate the ANCWL in our province for being visible and vocal against gender based violence and crimes against children. The ANC, the Alliance and the Leagues must rise against this scourge and mobilise both women and men to take a stance and put a stop to what is certainly a new pandemic. We need to launch a vigorous public campaign to build solidarity and alliances on this matter across all classes and national groups.
We must come out of this Special PGC with a clear message that abusers, rapists and killers have no place in our democratic society. Working with law enforcement agencies, we must make it difficult for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to get bail or find refuge in our communities. We must say to the abusers, rapists and killers of women and children, your days are numbered!
Equally, we must work with the ANC Youth League to address the massive challenges facing young people. More than 70% of our youth face the problem of structural unemployment in the era when our population is experiencing a youth bulge. In line with the decision of the NEC and the announcement made by President Zuma during the State of the Nation Address, we need to urgently adopt a comprehensive package of interventions that will stimulate the absorption of young people into the labour market.
We cannot allow this matter to be hijacked by our opponents as part of their election strategy. It is for this reason that we have moved beyond talking about a youth wage subsidy to talk about promoting youth employment schemes that address the totality of the challenges faced by different categories of youth.
We must strengthen the ANCYL as the voice of young people in our society and ensure that it broadens its base among young people and deepen its political and organizational work. The ANCYL must therefore have proper structures that work well with the mother body and must remain visible and vocal in addressing the plight of young people.
We must do all these, because, emerging from the 53rd National Conference we took a decision that we must renew the ANC so that it adapts to changing conditions and is able to respond to new challenges.
In our analysis the South African society, and in particular Gauteng, is becoming more modern, dynamic and is ever changing.
Mangaung Conference has instructed us to adopt new and modern ways of managing the affairs of our movement. This work includes improving our membership system, using the latest available technology to ensure efficiency, accuracy and dependability of our membership system.
Our membership system must also assist us to know ANC members, such that we can provide a detailed profile of an ANC member. It must also assist us to be able to deploy a member on the basis of their skills and capabilities to various areas of strategic importance.
Fellow comrades, renewal is essentially about building the resilience and capacity of our movement to ensure that it continues to be a leader of the state and society. It is also about maintaining the values of unity, selflessness, service, collective leadership, democratic centralism, internal debates, humility, honesty, hard work, constructive criticism and self-criticism, discipline and mutual respect. It is about responding to new conditions and new challenges.
In order to do the above, the ANC and its Alliance require a cadre of a special type. It is in this regard that the 53rd National Conference declared the next ten years The Decade of the Cadre.
This calls for a completely new approach to the way we do political education and training as well as cadre development. We are now talking about a comprehensive political school system at all levels. Education is now priority number not only in society but also among ANC members. We cannot be drivers of fundamental social change if we lack the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out the tasks of the moment.
In Gauteng we are pleased announce that significant progress has been made in institutionalizing cadreship development. Our consistent and structured programme of political education has earned recognition from the national leadership as reported to the 53rd National Conference by the Secretary General.
However, the PEC Lekgotla has decided that we must triple our effort this year and in the coming years so that we can offer every member of the ANC and leader a proper grounding in the politics of the movement and improve the skills profile of our membership. The Provincial Secretary will outline the details of what we intend to do in the programme of action.
Going forward, while we will continue to recruit new members, our focus will deliberately shift to improving the quality of our membership. We are pleased that Mangaung Conference has introduced the six-months probation which will include compulsory political education and community work for new members. This will help us to sift and select the caliber of people who come into our organization. The Branches will play a key role in enforcing this new approach to recruitment. For this reason, every branch and VD must appoint a Branch and VD Commissar whose responsibility is to be the custodian of the Decade of the Cadre programme.
Comrades in order to be able to effectively engage in and win the battle of ideas, ANC cadres must equip themselves with the necessary tools of analysis to be able to understand, articulate and defend ANC positions. We have a responsibility at all times to remain a step ahead of our ideological opponents!
As Gauteng we have been working well with our Alliance partners. We must therefore continue to strengthen the unity of the ANC led Alliance. This unity must continue to be based on a joint programme of action.
In this regard we will continue to engage COSATU on its concerns about the e-tolls and labour brokers.
This we will do because in our understanding we have made significant progress in our discussion on how best we can implement the Cabinet decision on e-tolls.
In order to remain visible in communities, we will also work with SANCO, ensuring that it continues to become a powerful organ of peoples power.
During the month of March, we will convene a bilateral meeting with the SACP, our time-tested ally for eight decades, to address issues of mutual interest so that we can together play a complementary role as the principal political formations in the Alliance.
Fellow comrades, in our view and understanding, the ANC Veterans League must continue to play its role as the guardians of the ANCs core values and custodians of knowledge about our movement.
We will continue to place a high premium on the contribution that veterans of our struggle can make both through their exemplary conduct and by strengthening ideological work within our movement.
We have also planned to meet with the PEC of MKMVA in the next few weeks to address issues of mutual interest, including the plight of our ex-combatants. This will enable us to harness the energies and skills of ex-combatants towards building a stronger and more united ANC in the province.
We must also support the work of COSAS and SASCO to organize students behind programmes of the ANC. We are pleased to announce that the student leadership contributed positively in the discussions at the PEC Lekgotla and we shall be working together on all campaigns.
Furthermore, as the ANC we must continue to pay attention to strengthening our working relations with all organs of civil society, and with business.
We must do everything in our power to strengthen the non-racial character of the ANC.
This we must do because, in line with our true character of being a Parliament of all the people of South Africa, all sectors of our society must find a home in the ANC.
BUILDING GAUTENG AS A GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE CITY REGION
Comrades, our vision to become a Globally Competitive City Region means that we should take the lead in this addressing challenges faced by the continent.
Hence at the center of the GCR Strategy among others is the need to strength our Research and Development capacity, our ability to innovate and hence our ability to compete successfully with leading city regions in the world.
This is particularly important because we are operating in a knowledge economy!
One of our key tasks is to ensure regional integration, the creation of common markets as well as intra-Africa exports. These must remain our areas of priority if we are to translate Africas rapid growth into higher employment and rising standards of living.
We must also develop more scientific responses on the effects of climate change, such as rising temperature, erratic rain and extreme weather events, all of which are likely to take a heavy toll on the continent.
Equally we must take advantage of opportunities available in the green economy. Gauteng must take a lead in becoming a manufacturing hub for equipment needed by the green economy.
Comrades, we note that while massive progress has been made since 1994 to build and strengthen institutions of democracy, to expand and democratize service provision, to promote reconciliation and nation building, to stabilize the economy, to build an effective safety net for the most vulnerable in our society; a lot more still needs to be done to bring about a better life for all.
However, we must be the first to acknowledge that we face challenges that must be tackled with renewed determination. Eighteen years into democracy South Africa remains a highly unequal society! Quality education remains elusive to many black learners. Access to quality health care also remains a challenge for many South Africans. The apartheid legacy of unequal access to opportunities still remains. Young people, women and children bear a disproportionate burden of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
The ANC is the only party that has the policies and plans to resolve all these challenges during the second phase of our transition. Mangaung Conference has instructed us to change gear in the way we do things.
It is for this reason that we have characterized this as the second phase of our ongoing transition; a phase in which we will ensure a radical shift in the policies we implement and decisive action to effect thorough-going social and economic transformation.
As directed by the 2012 Strategy and Tactics Document, during this phase of our National Democratic Revolution we must pay equal attention to improving access to services as well as improving the quality of services provided.
To further strengthen our advance towards a National Democratic Society, in Mangaung we adopted the National Development Plan; Vision 2030.
The NDP aims to eliminate poverty and reduce poverty over the next twenty years.
Comrades, it is important that the NDP must find expression in the work of government departments at all levels including in municipalities.
As the NDP argues: to accelerate progress, deepen democracy and build a more inclusive society, South Africa must translate political emancipation into economic well being for all.
In particular we must strengthen efforts to de-racialise our economy, ensuring that all South Africans have a meaningful role in it.
We must accelerate the growth of our economy and create more jobs especially for our young people.
This will require among others that we continue to increase our investment in infrastructure, support strategic sectors of the economy in line with the New Growth Path, increase our competitiveness, invest in skills needed by the economy and form partnerships with the private sector and institutions of higher learning.
Comrades, some of these interventions may take time to have a large scale impact on addressing poverty and reducing unemployment.
However, the nature of the challenge we currently face requires that we make urgent interventions that will reduce the acute levels of poverty and unemployment facing millions of South Africans.
For this reason the NDP proposes a number of short-term measures to address the challenges of poverty and unemployment in society.
Key among these proposals is the introduction of active labor market policies and incentives to grow employment, particularly for young people.
We note that agreement on the best possible way forward to respond to the critical issue of youth unemployment has been reached.
As President Zuma indicated during the State of the Nation Address last week; discussions on youth employment incentives have been concluded and an agreement has been reached at NEDLAC. Parties to this agreement will sign an accord this month.
Comrades, lets us end this debate now and implement initiatives that will create much needed employment for our young people.
GOVERNANCE
Comrades, during the PEC Lekgotla, we received a detailed report on the implementation of our 2009 Elections Manifesto.
The review focused on implementing the five priorities as outlined in our 2009-2014 Manifesto.
Those were:
- Creation of decent work
- Provision of quality education
- Provision of quality health care
- Rural development and land reform
- Fighting crime and corruption
We are pleased that important work has been done to realize the implementation of our priorities. We are however the first ones to say much more needs to be done going forward.
We have agreed that we must identify low hanging fruits and deliver on them quickly.
This will include, ensuring that municipalities increase expenditure on infrastructure investment and work towards creating more decent work, fight poverty and inequality in our communities.
Fellow comrades, we must continue to strengthen our investment in strategic social and economic infrastructure as well as in research and development to ensure innovative ideas, through the initiatives like the Innovation Hub.
We must also strengthen our value added manufacturing capacity, local beneficiation of minerals, expand access to broadband and increase our investment in strategic sectors of the economy such as the creative industries.
We must also increase our manufacturing capacity and pay attention to the need to re-industrialize our province.
As part of growing and de-racialising the economy we must continue to invest in Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises.
As part of strengthening the support we provide to SMMEs, we must assess whether the support provided so far by Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) is adequate in addressing the challenges faced by SMMEs.
We must also spend time assessing the effectiveness of the Expanded Public Works Programme as a provider of skills and temporary poverty relief to communities.
The EPWP can also be used to provide much needed social and economic infrastructure in townships, including the tarring of roads, upgrading of schools, clinics and other community facilities.
Let us accelerate the construction of new schools and upgrade old schools, particularly in the townships. We must also ensure that learners receive learning material on time and have access to laboratories and libraries.
Let me congratulate the Gauteng Department of Education for the consistent improvement in matric pass rate in 2012 and that means our province is now number one and we must tell the story of success, whatever challenges we still have to overcome. Our focus going forward must be the provision of quality education to all learners, particularly in public schools.
We fully support the decision of the NEC Lekgotla and the call by President Zuma that education must be treated as an essential service and that teachers must be in class on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day and that equally learners must be in class learning. This does not take away the right of teachers to exercise their rights as workers.
We must also increase our investment in facilities for Early Childhood Development.
We appreciate progress towards the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme. Nevertheless, we must make sure that our clinics and hospitals operate optimally, providing quality health care services to our citizens.
Let us make sure that lifts are working, hospital cleans, that there are enough doctors and nurses and patient medication.
Let us also strengthen our effort to fight crime in our province. We must also take this opportunity to congratulate Gauteng Community Safety Department for the notable improvement in policing in our province. We are winning the war against crime, although social crime remains a serious problem.
Our branches must earn commendation for their work on the education and safety campaigns on the ground. The notable progress on education and safety would have not been possible without activism in communities. We must continue to strengthen our participation in CPFs and SGBs.
We must also strengthen the fight against corruption across society. In this regard, there must be consequences for public servants who do not perform their duties or are involved in corrupt activities. This we must do because the public expects us to use public funds to change their lives for the better.
Whilst Gauteng is principally urban, it does have huge potential for agriculture and food security, especially agro-processing. We must therefore use our location to stimulate growth in agro-processing to ensure that it also contributes to the GDP and the overall economy!
Comrades we must do all of these things so that as Gauteng we continue to play our role as the engine of South African economy.
If Gauteng does not grow and strengthens its economic base, chances are that the South African economy will stagnate further.
Let us continue to work hard to make Gauteng a smart province and a Globally Competitive City Region. Recent research by the GCRO shows that we are doing fairly well in building the competitive edge of our province especially in offering a better quality of life. However, we need to do more in the area of economic development so that we are not by-passed by other economic centres in the country and continent.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 2014 ELECTIONS
Comrades, the PEC Lekgotla received a detailed report on research done in preparing for the general elections in 2014.
Central to the report is the task of going back to our people to report on the work done since 2009 and to ask them to renew the mandate of the ANC; to advance further the programme of social and economic transformation.
Comrades the 2014 elections are significant in that they coincide with the 20th Anniversary of freedom and democracy in our country.
The occasion of our 20th Anniversary is an important milestone in our struggle towards advancing our goal of building a National Democratic Society.
Also of significance in these elections, is that for the first time in the 2014 elections, many young South Africans born after 1994, will be voting!
This presents a challenge in that the first time voters have no direct relation with apartheid and therefore the apartheid narrative does not fully resonate with them.
Equally, our ideological opponents, in particular the DA has made it known that they are intending to fiercely contest Gauteng, with a view to reduce our electoral majority and eventually take over the province. We are also aware that their election machinery is already in place in Gauteng.
There is also a new kid on the block in our political landscape. This new kid has launched a political platform joining a chorus of anti-ANC voices, with more vitriol. This multiplies our strategic opponents and has the potential to confuse voters, especially the youth and the middle class.
It is estimated that more than 3 million young people will be voting for the first time in 2014. Our election strategy must be comprehensive and smart and our election machinery must be dynamic so that we can energise our core support base to come out and vote on Election Day.
It is estimated that more than 3 million young people will be voting for the first time in 2014. Our election strategy must be comprehensive and smart.
Fellow comrades, faced with these realities, our preparations for the 2014 elections must start today and now! We have no luxury of time to waste.
We are confident that united in action, we shall defeat these forces like we did in 2009 elections! We have many experienced volunteers on the ground. We have many experienced fighters on the ground. We have mature cadres in Gauteng who are able to come to the defence of the ANC when called upon to do so. We must get all these comrades into the election campaign and ensure that no one is marginalised. Our election machinery must be run by the most experienced, capable and committed election workers!
We will therefore outline in this Special PGC a detailed plan on our election machinery.
Comrades, in these elections our focus will be primarily on the youth, many of whom are battling daily with challenges of unemployment, lack of skills and lack of economic opportunities, disease as well as drug and alcohol abuse.
As the ANC we have a responsibility to provide these young people with inspiration and hope that tomorrow will be better than today and yesterday.
Our election machinery will also be geared towards consolidating our traditional strongholds in the townships, in the farms and informal settlements. It will also at the same time allow us to make major inroads in the middle class suburbs as well as in White, Coloured and Indian communities.
A key element of our elections campaign will be our communication and media strategy.
We must continue to find new and innovative ways of communicating our messages, our successes, our failures and plans to address them. This will include using social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and others to spread our messages.
We will also continue to use Community radios and direct communication with communities, through door to door work with street sheets, visiting factories and shop-floors!
Fellow comrades, central to our campaign, is a united voice and common message that South Africa is qualitatively better since the ANC took over in 1994 than under apartheid. We must marshal all the facts and figures to show that the ANC has done a lot to improve the quality of life of our people. We must reach every house and every voter in our province with a positive message that although we still have a long way to go, we have done a lot.
We must ensure that our elections posters, have clear messages, are mounted on time on every street pole and in all strategic areas in our province.
We are confident that gathered here is a critical mass, which we consider as an army of cadres that will spread our elections message to every household, factory and shop floor in Gauteng.
Comrades, I have no doubt that, like in the previous elections, Gauteng will lead the way with vibrant and innovating campaign messages and methods, targeting especially young voters and the black middle class, while consolidating our core support among the working class in our traditional bases and constituencies.
CONCLUSION
Let me once more wish this Special PGC fruitful deliberation. I am confident that you in Gauteng will never let the ANC down, you will continue to rise to the occasion. You will not let the NEC and the PEC down, you will focus on the tasks outlined in the January 8th Statement as well as the NEC and PEC Makgotla.
At all times we must remember the words of President Mandela that; Unity is the bedrock upon which the ANC is founded.
Let us therefore continue to unite the ANC and our people around the vision of Building a Better Life for All!
I trust that we will leave here with a sense of vision and having developed sound ideas that will help us to advance further the National Democratic Revolution.
We cant be in a permanent conference mode. It is too early to start lobbying for the next provincial and regional conferences which are due to take place only in 2014. The ANC is a not an organization that exists only for conferences.
Fellow comrades, there is only one set of leadership collective at a time: one NEC, one PEC, one REC, one BEC at each level. We cant have permanent lobby groups that meet even when conferences are over. If they are allowed to continue to operate as if the conference has not come and gone, the lobby groups will become parallel structures that can usurp the role and function of legitimate structures elected at duly constituted conferences. This is a very dangerous tendency to allow in any organization. Everybody who was in the lobby group must go back to structures and desist from continuing as if the conference is not over.
Let us focus on task of galvanising all our forces and confront all the opponents of our revolution as we work for an overwhelming ANC victory in the 2014 elections.
Mayihlome ihlasele! All cadres to the frontline!
Asinamona! Asinanzondo! Siyayidumisa i-ANC!
Re a leboga!
Re a leboha!
Siyabulela!
Siyabonga!
Ha khensa, inkomu!
Thank you!
Baie dankie!
Maatla ke a rona! All power to the power!