ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa maintained his party’s bullish outlook when addressing a Workers’ Day celebration at Athlone Stadium where he told the gathering that his party was the only “bull in this country”.

He appeared to be taking a swipe at the DA, saying the ANC would teach a lesson to those who thought the Western Cape belonged to them.

A stone’s throw away in Lentegeur, DA leader John Steenhuisen said because of the ANC’s legacy of destroying jobs, May 1 should be called “Workless Day.”

Ramaphosa accused opposition parties of running around like little dogs, saying the ANC would obtain less than 50% of the vote.

“They don’t know us. They hear about us in the newspapers. They hear about us on television. Many of them look down on us. We must go out in numbers to show them who the ANC is, that in this country there is one bull and that bull is the ANC.

“They must stop undermining the ANC. They are going to see us come May 29. We say come and we shall show them,” Ramaphosa said.

“The workers of this country and the people of this country are not going to allow the ANC to go below 50%. They are working for an outright majority of the ANC,” he said.

“The ANC is going to show you because that is one organisation that has proven over the last 30 years that it cares for the people of this country, having led our people as a whole to bring this country where it is,” Ramaphosa said.

Cyril Ramaphosa is flanked by Cosatu president Zingisa Losi and SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila during a Workers’ Day rally at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Newspapers

“I urge all of us as workers here, firstly in the Western Cape and the broader South Africa as workers, that there is one political organisation that has advanced the interests of the workers.

“All the others that are out in the field campaigning do not have the good intentions to advance the rights of the workers like the ANC has done in the government. As we go to the polls, therefore, I want to rally workers to be active volunteers of the ANC, to go out and make sure that we achieve this decisive victory that awaits us because on the 29th of May the ANC, and for those who think the ANC will not emerge victorious, the ANC will emerge victorious,” he said.

The tone for the election campaigning was set by Cosatu Western Cape chairperson Motlatsi Tsubane when he welcomed the crowd of thousands and stated that workers would not be confused when they cast their votes.

The ANC-led alliance partners used the May Day rally celebrations to throw their weight behind the governing party for securing an overwhelming victory in the elections.

“We know who we are to vote for. We are to vote for the ANC. We call upon the workers to go and vote for the ANC on 29 May,” Tsubane said.

Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said while celebrating 30 years of democracy, the workers and the working class were frustrated by the pace of change and mistakes. However, Losi praised the “hard-won gains” and victories by Cosatu, many of which were now part of the Constitution and a variety of laws.

“All these victories were only possible when we stand strong and united as a federation (and) when we understand who continues to stand with us in the trenches.

“It is not the DA, it is not MK, it is not EFF, it is not the Action Campaign.

It is not any other political party except the ANC,” she said.

Losi also said the ANC was the only party that had been tested and had stood with the workers.

“We do understand there are many challenges the workers are dealing with.

We understand there are still inequalities in our society. We understand we must address issues of electricity and energy.

We understand that we need to deal with Transnet and all other important state-owned enterprises that drive the agenda of our economy,” Losi said.

SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila said the elections would be crucial, not only for the ANC and the people, but were international and were against exploitation.

“That is why the people of our country must know if the ANC loses the elections the setback in this country will be sentimental. We should make no mistake. We are going all out to vote for the ANC as allies. These coming elections are so crucial for us. It is crucial that we come out in our numbers, all our family members, to participate in this important vote,” Mapaila said.

Steenhuisen said the unholy alliance between the ANC, the SACP and Cosatu had deliberately built a system of economic exclusion since 1994.

“A small group of ANC and Cosatu cadres have benefited enormously from exclusionary practices like cadre deployment and B-BBEE while trapping over 30 million people in grinding poverty.

“And now they want to deepen that exclusion even more through new race quotas that could effectively ban the employment of coloured people in certain sectors and certain parts of the country! It is therefore not surprising to hear that Cosatu is threatened by the rise of the DA in all credible polling.”

Steenhuisen said a new government anchored by the DA would deliberately break down the walls of economic exclusion built by the ANC and Cosatu.

“We will do so by scrapping job-killing policies like cadre deployment, race quotas, expropriation without compensation, and the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank.”

Cape Times

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