EAST LONDON, January 13 (ANA) - The African National Congress will renew its focus on former president Nelson Mandela’s vision of a non-racial society in which the social and economic barriers that have separated black from white South Africans are torn down, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday.
Delivering the ANC's annual January 8 statement at the party's 106th-anniversary celebrations at the Buffalo City Stadium in East London, he said the ANC would redouble its efforts to build a society in which black poverty and white privilege were consigned to the past, replaced by respect, solidarity, and non-racial equality.
"We shall place at the top of our agenda Madiba’s vision of a non-sexist society in which the oppression and exploitation of women – whether in the workplace, in communities, or in the home – is eradicated. We will work to ensure we achieve comprehensive development of women in all spheres of life so as to ensure that there is equality between women and men," Ramaphosa said.
"We shall work to rekindle Madiba’s vision of a democratic society in which all citizens have equal opportunity to determine their own destiny. We shall achieve this not only through strengthening the instruments of representative and participatory democracy; but also by ensuring that people have economic opportunities and the ability to make choices about their own lives.
"We shall work to strengthen organs of civil society, including street committees and other community-based organisations, understanding that they provide the means through which people can participate fully in changing their lives for the better," he said.
"In 2018, as the African National Congress, we shall work to restore the confidence of the South African people in a shared vision for radical social and economic transformation. We shall confront, together, the lack of broad-based economic participation and the social marginalisation of millions of poor and landless people. This we shall do, proceeding from the understanding that an equitable society is in the interest of all South Africans, whatever their race, gender or social status.
"Drawing on the wisdom of Madiba, and led by his example we shall focus all our efforts on improving the lives of all South Africans, especially the poor," Ramaphosa said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
