The ANC is confident it will be returned to power come next year’s general elections. The party held a wrap up of its manifesto review programme in Everton, Ekurhuleni where its top brass poured cold water to opposition claims that it was at its weakest.
Addressing the gathering President Cyril Ramaphosa accused opposition parties of ignoring the successes of the ANC government to amplify a narrative that it had made the country to be worse than what it was under apartheid.
“Our detractors have shown lack of appreciation for what democracy has achieved under the ANC. They have resorted to distortions of facts and lies the biggest being that nothing has happened since 1994 and that apartheid was even better than what we are going through now and we all know that’s a blatant lie, there’s no truth there,”said Ramaphosa adding that communities across the country gave the party resounding approval through inputs made during the course of the manifesto review process.
“One refuses to hear stories that we have not built as many houses as we were supposed to. I know of no government that would build a house, and today we build a house for 160 000, next year that figure Will go up, that will build it and hand it over to you for free,”said Ramaphosa of criticism.
Ramaphosa said even first world countries do not have social programmes that can match those of the ANC government.
“I also went to a country like Russia where President Puttin says we’re building two million houses at one go then I ask him are these houses going to be for free he says no they’re going to pay for them. If we had time I would take you on a journey like I’ve undertaken a number of journeys like to the Eastern Cape and Free State where I’ve enterracted with people and entered into their houses and they expressed gratitude to the ANC,” said Ramaphosa in his comparison of South Africa to the rest of the world.