President Cyril Ramaphosa's January 8th address on Saturday January 11 may well mark a moment in which the ANC became more direct in dealing with the political threats it opposes, with Ramaphosa taking on MK, the SACP and critics of the government of national unity.

Over the years ANC leaders have often appeared to almost ignore the conditions on the ground during their January 8th birthday addresses. Instead of focusing on the politics of the moment, the statement, formally written by the national executive committee, has often appeared to be a wish list of ideas the ANC has wanted to institute.

No longer.

On Saturday, addressing the Mandela Stadium in Khayelitsha, Ramaphosa focused very much on the politics of the moment.

He spent some time discussing the importance of the Tripartite Alliance, saying the alliance had "won many historic victories", victories that had improved the lives of South Africans. It was a "living organism that developed and matured over almost a century, under different conditions, constantly adapting its role as the phases of the struggle changed".

This is clearly in response to a decision by the South African Communist Party to campaign as an independent party in the local elections.

SACP deputy chairperson Thulas Nxesi had specifically referred to this in his address before Ramaphosa's, saying that this decision was not a "Solly Mapaila decision", but a decision of the SACP...