At the end of the event, which took place in that city, Cyril Ramaphosa, elected for a second term at the helm of the organisation, recalled that after five days of work, the ANC “as a unified organisation, to the surprise of those who don’t.” wish us the best”.
Unless the ANC is united, he stressed, it will not be able to unite South Africa or revitalize the national economy.
In this sense, he confirmed that one of his priorities at the top of the party was to work for cohesion within the party. Unity, he recalled, “remains one of the finest traditions of the African National Congress”.
Likewise, regarding the attitude that the representatives of the ANC must take, he recalled the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, when he referred to his idea, expressed in 1959, of the duty of leaders to serve their people with self-sacrifice, without to strive to obtain something material in return.
Serving the people, serving the country without expectations, just working to win their trust must be the currency for ANC leaders, he stressed.
In a self-criticism, Ramaphosa acknowledged that as an organization we “have made mistakes and taken some wrong steps. And we pay for them in many, many ways.”
However, he added, the 55th conference had reaffirmed the ANC’s raison d’être: to serve the people of South Africa.
For the years to come, he added, we in the ANC, as the ruling party, must work to provide quality services to people across the country and continue the fight against corruption, among other things.
In this regard, after realizing that “corruption within the ANC is indeed a major threat to the party’s continued existence,” he claimed
In addition, the “original sin” of land grabbing must be addressed in South Africa. Land reform, he added, is not just about addressing an injustice, but also about helping the economy grow.
During the conference, more than 4,400 delegates from across the country elected the so-called Top 7, the seven highest leaders of the ANC for the next five years, as well as the members of its National Executive Committee (NEC), the highest executive body responsible for party decisions in the Time between conferences whose integration has yet to be published.
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