The African National Congress (ANC) wishes to thank its members and supporters who turned up in their multitudes on Saturday for the historic launch of the ANC Election Manifesto in East London.

Not since the release of former ANC President Nelson Mandela from Robben Island Prison have we seen such public outpouring of support for Africa's oldest liberation movement, which has just celebrated 97 years of existence - almost a century.

That people thronged into ABSA and the adjacent Jan Smuts stadium - something unprecedented in South African politics - is an indication and a debunking of any myths that the ANC's mass support was being eroded in the Eastern Cape. We, therefore, challenge any serious contender to the ANC in the run-up to the 2009 elections to equal or better the attendance record set by the organisation in East London.

The ANC is the oldest and longest established liberation movement in Africa. It has a long history of struggle against colonial and apartheid domination.

Established in 1912 ,it led an heroic and victorious national democratic revolution struggle from when the African people fought spear in hand against the British and Boer colonisers. The ANC has kept this spirit of resistance alive. It brought together millions in the struggle for liberation and led the people's struggles against land dispossession, low wages, high rents, dompas, Bantu education, and for the right to vote for a government of our choice. This history is about our struggle for freedom and justice. It tells the story of the ANC.

It brought closer co-operation between the ANC and the SA Indian Congress, the SA Coloured People's Organisation (SACPO) and the Congress of Democrats (COD).

These organisations, together with the SA Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), formed the Congress Alliance and came together to organise the Congress of the People, which presented people's demands for the kind of South Africa they wanted.

These demands were drawn together into the Freedom Charter which was adopted at Kliptown on 26 June 1955. The ANC and Congress leaders were arrested and brought to trial in the famous Treason Trial.

In 1955 the apartheid government announced that women should carry passes. Women mounted a huge campaign countrywide led by the ANC.

Resistance in the rural areas reached new heights when the Bantu Authorities Act, which gave the apartheid government the power to remove chiefs they considered troublesome and replace them with those who would collaborate with the racist system.

Anti-pass campaigns were taken in 1960. People gathered in large numbers at Sharpville, Nyanga and Langa. At Sharpville the police opened fire on the unarmed and peaceful crowd, killing 69 and wounding 186. The massacre of peaceful protestors brought a decade of peaceful protest to an end.

The ANC took up arms against the South African Government in 1961. The ANC went underground and continued to organise secretly. Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was formed to "hit back by all means within our power in defence of our people, our future and our freedom" This led to the Rivonia Trial where the leaders of MK were charged with attempting to cause a violent revolution.

In the 1970s workers and students fought back against the system. Their struggles changed the face of South Africa. From about 1970 prices began to rise sharply, making it even more difficult for workers to survive on low wages. Spontaneous strikes resulted: workers walked off the job demanding wage increases. The strike began in Durban in 1973 and later spread to other parts of the country.

Student anger and grievances against Bantu education exploded in June 1976. Tens of thousands of high school students took to the streets to protest against compulsory use of Afrikaans at schools. Police opened fire on marching students, which began an uprising that spread to other parts of the country leaving over 1,000 dead, most of whom were killed by the police.

In the 1980s, people took the liberation struggle to new heights. In the workplace, in the community and in the schools, the people aimed to take control of their situation. All areas of life became areas of political struggle. These strugglers were linked to the demand for political power.

In February 1990, the regime was forced to un-ban the ANC and other organisations and after it's unbanning the ANC began to establish branch and regional structures of its members.

The negotiations initiated by the ANC resulted in the holding of historic first elections in April 1994. The ANC won these first historic elections with a vast majority - 62,6%.

Under successive ANC Governments since 1994:

The country has the longest economic expansion recorded in SA history - from 1994 to 2003 the economy grew at an average of 3% and 4.5% since 2004.
Unemployment has decreased from 31% in 2003 to 23% in 2007, using the official narrow definition. This translated into 500,000 new jobs being created annually since 2004.
Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) coverage has been expanded to include nearly a million domestic workers and farm workers.
Access to social grants has massively increased from 3 million people in 1997 to 12.5 million; 8 million of who are children aged less than 14 years.
About 3.1 million RDP housing for 10 million people were built, outpacing informal housing for the first time. The majority of RDP homeowners are women.
About 18.7 million people have access to clean water and 10.9 million provided with sanitation, with the number of households with bucket system reduced from 605 675 in 1994 to 113 085 in 2007.
The expansion of electricity has reached 70% of the population.
Progress has been recorded through expansion of free primary health care. We have expanded health infrastructure, including building 1,600 clinics and new eight hospitals. Many public hospitals have been revitalized and refurbished. We have scaled-up the ART rollout programme with more than 480,000 people enrolled. A number of initiatives were launched to combat smoking.
Access to our primary and secondary schooling has reached near universal enrolment, with the participation of girls being the highest in the world. A total of 98% of children aged from 7 to 15 years are enrolled in schools; 88% for 6 years olds and participation rate for children aged 4 and 5 (Grade R) in early child development has now reached 70%. The matriculation pass rate has increased from 58% in 1994 to 65% in 2007. Pupil-to-teacher ratios have improved from 43:1 in 1996 to 32:1 in 2006.
Mass mobilisation around the literacy campaign means that it is now covering more than 350,000 of our people who cannot read and write. We are well within targets to ensure South Africa is free of illiteracy by 2014.
In higher education, the ANC government has a plan to ensure participation rate of 17.5% by 2010 and 20% by 2015. Since 1994, 140,000 students have benefited from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which is aimed at improving participation rates amongst disadvantaged South Africans.
The impact of these economic and social policies has seen significant reductions in the level of severe poverty and improvement in the quality of life of millions of South Africans. Significant progress was made, therefore, toward the vision of creating a united, non-racial and non-sexist society.
Our country has become more cohesive and we collectively celebrated achievements in sport, especially being awarded the 2010 FIFA World Cup. During this period we also became the Rugby World Champions, top international cricket team, Angling World Champions and have world-class paralympians whose performance contributed to national pride at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.
The ANC government has strengthened the country's role in peace, reconstruction and development, especially on the African continent. Our international responsibilities and recognition has also grown. We have also being active in international global forums, such as the G20 and OECD to advance the South African development and the African agenda.

But much more needs to be done. We cannot afford to rest. We need to continue working, constantly improving our efforts, until we have liberated all South Africans from poverty, hunger, homelessness, violence and disease.

As we celebrate the highly successful launch of the Manifesto and celebrating the ANC's 97th anniversary, let us affirm our commitment to further improve the lives of our people. Let us build on 97 years of proud struggle as we move towards the centenary of the ANC in 2012.

Issued by:
African National Congress

Enquiries:
Brian Sokutu 071 671 6919

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