Alliance Political Council statement
25 October 2016
The Alliance Political Council, comprising of the national officials of the ANC, SACP, COSATU and SANCO, met from 23 to 24 October 2016. The Alliance Political Council used the opportunity to reflect on the message communicated by our core social base in the 3 August local government elections.
Whilst the ANC, with 54% of the vote, still enjoys the support of the overwhelming majority of the people, there has been a significant decline in its electoral support. The Alliance Political Council agreed that this was a message, from the people, that we must do things differently to win back their trust.
There was agreement that the primary focus must be to move the national democratic revolution onto a second radical phase and more concrete programmes to address poverty, create jobs and grow an inclusive, productive economy. The persisting problems of high levels of class, race and gender inequalities, unemployment and poverty, were identified as a major challenge facing our national democratic transformation, and as the cause of many undesirable political tendencies and social consequences facing our society.
The Political Council placed more emphasis on strengthening the Alliance, each component and ensuring principled and programmatic unity of the motive forces of the national democratic revolution. The Political Council directs all structures of our Alliance formations to develop joint programmes aimed at addressing day-to-day challenges confronting our people.