Hajra Omarjee and Karima Brown
25 November 2008
Johannesburg — THE African National Congress (ANC) hammered out its election strategy yesterday, ahead of its election manifesto conference to be held this weekend.
While the party was cagey about its message, "accelerated change" seems to be the theme of its 2009 general election campaign.
The party has identified five priority areas, including education, health, crime, job creation, and rural development, which it will target for faster change, said ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.
The ANC will use the forthcoming by-elections to ascertain its strength in several provinces, including Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Mantashe pointed to the ANC's recent victory in Eldorado Park, a traditional Democratic Alliance stronghold, as an indicator of the party's gains among minorities.
Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg after last weekend's national executive committee (NEC) meeting, Mantashe said the party will pay "careful" attention to programmes that addressed the needs of the poor, including access to social grants, and the extension of the school feeding schemes to secondary schools, in its efforts to win votes.
However, he said the prevailing economic climate would also affect the South African economy.
"In light of these conditions, the ANC NEC reaffirmed a commitment to the economic path set out at its Polokwane conference. This includes the implementation of trade and industrial policies that encourage the creation of decent work, the maintenance of macroeconomic stability, the sound management of public finances, and a massive investment programme>"
The ANC is on record that it wants to create 5-million jobs, but senior party leaders, including Jacob Zuma and President Kgalema Motlanthe, have cautioned that expectations in this regard should be tempered.
"While SA's economy is in a good position to weather the storm, the global crisis is likely to slow the rate at which the economy grows. This, in turn, will impact on job growth and poverty reduction," Mantashe said. On how the party planned to accelerate change, Mantashe said the focus would shift from quantity to quality.
"The ANC has been driving change for the last 15 years. That change has to be accelerated. We will expand on the change, build on the experience, and make sure its impact will be positive on society."
Education was an area where scale had to give way to quality, saying that while universal access to education was at 98%, attention to the quality of teachers, and the overall system, was now required.
Asked if Zuma's comments about sending teenage mothers to far-away colleges as a way of dealing with the high pregnancy rate was a reflection of ANC policy, Mantashe said: "The ANC president had thrown a number of issues on the table for debate. South Africans should grasp this opportunity."
Zuma and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema have come under scrutiny for their controversial comments while campaigning.
In an effort to align its core message on the campaign trail, the ANC NEC decided to "guide" its leaders on public messaging. "We have discussed the matter. We have decided that we will guide him (Malema) on every occasion, but at the same time be equally aware of Malema-phobia."
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