South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) marked its 114th anniversary over the weekend with a renewed push to rebuild voter confidence after a historic electoral setback in 2024 that forced the party into coalition government for the first time since the end of apartheid.
At the birthday ceremony in Rustenburg, supporters and party figures projected optimism about the ANC’s prospects, even as President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged public frustration over failing basic services and warned that the movement’s survival depends on visible, irreversible reform.
“We cannot blame our people if they question whether our democracy… and indeed the ANC and the Alliance really work for them,” Ramaphosa said, stressing that the party’s “renewal… is the most pressing organisational task of this generation.” He urged ANC members to demonstrate integrity in their daily conduct and to restore trust through performance, not slogans.
The ANC has often performed worse at local polls than in national contests, with voters frequently using municipal elections to vent anger about water shortages, potholes, refuse collection failures and other day-to-day governance breakdowns. Ramaphosa pointed to municipalities as a priority battleground and said the party must urgently fix service delivery ahead of the next local elections, which are expected before November 2026.
The anniversary message comes against a backdrop of deep economic and security pressures. South Africa’s unemployment rate has remained above 30% in recent years, while violent crime remains a dominant public concern. Reuters has described the country as having one of the world’s highest murder rates, averaging about 60 killings a day.
The reform blueprint being promoted by ANC leaders centres on tackling unemployment, corruption, inequality and crime—issues analysts say are driving disillusionment, especially among younger voters. Ramaphosa also highlighted a planned 54 billion rand state investment in water and energy infrastructure as part of efforts to stabilise essential services.
In the 2024 national elections, the ANC won about 40% of the vote, a sharp fall from 57.5% in 2019, ending its parliamentary majority and ushering in a new era of coalition politics.
