7 July 2016

The African National Congress enters the Siyanqoba (we are winning) phase of our election campaign, confident of a decisive victory in all municipalities that we currently govern as well as winning new municipalities where the opposition has dismally failed to advance the progressive agenda of fundamental socio-economic transformation for the people.

With less than 30 days to go before the nation goes to the polls on the 3rd August 2016, the ANC has intensified its engagement with our people across the length and breadth of our country. Everywhere the leadership has been deployed, we have received a very warm reception from our people, who rely on their daily lived experience of a better life, rather than polls, to assess and commend the ANC for the work we have done over the last 15 years of democratic local government. Several studies including the State of Cities report recently released point to the massive positive changes brought to the lives of our people where the ANC governs; needless to say it remains disappointing to note that in the City of Cape Town under the leadership of the DA, change for the better has been delayed, the massive strides we had made have been reversed and this city is the only one where the number of people living in informal settlements have increased over the last five years – further demonstration that development in Cape Town remains the solely reserved for the affluent and mostly white sections of the residents of that city.

The Community Survey 2016 recently released by Statistics South Africa confirms greater enrolment of our children to the schooling system, with our country almost attaining universal access to education from the age of 5 years old. In 10 years from 1996 to 2016, we have more than tripled the number of people completing a bachelor’s degree, moving from approximately four hundred thousand in 1996 to more than 1,2 million in 2016 – a reflection of our successes in pushing open the doors of learning.

According to the report, access to basic services has increased. Of the 16,9 million households in the country, 15,2 million have access to piped water. 90.3% of households have access to electricity and the number of households with no toilet facility has decreased to less than 2,5% of the population. These and other successes reaffirm our view that we have come a long way, we know that much more still remains to be done.

Emboldened by these successes and our concrete vision to further advance people’s power by delivering quality services, developing local economies and ensuring integration of our communities, the ANC will convene the mothers of all rallies in various provinces leading up to election day. The national Siyanqoba rally be held at the Ellis Park Precinct on the 31st July 2016 – one rally in two stadiums as neither is big enough on its own to contain the might that is the support base of the ANC.

Each of the rallies are intended to mobilise our support base to go out in their overwhelming numbers to vote ANC on the 3rd August 2016, thus ensuring we renew our mandate to continue changing the lives of our people for the better.

Major centres will hold build up rallies on the 23rd July 2016. On Sunday, 31 July 2016 a number of provinces will also convene their own rallies which will be linked via satellite to the national Siyanqoba Rally on the same day.

Online applications for media accreditation to the national Siyanqoba Rally have now been opened on the ANC website www.anc.org.za. Members of the media are invited to submit their applications for consideration for accreditation no later than Friday, 15th July 2016.

Issued by
Zizi Kodwa
National Spokesperson
African National Congress

Enquiries
Khusela Sangoni 072 854 5707

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