OPENING ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE ANC, CDE JACOB ZUMA, AT THE NORTHERN CAPE ANC PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE, UPINGTON, June 8 2012 

Provincial Chairperson, 
Comrade John Block; 
Provincial Secretary, 
Comrade Zamani Saul; 
Members of the Provincial Executive Committee; 
Members of the Tripartite Alliance; 
Comrades delegates; 

IMPORTANCE OF UPINGTON IN THE HISTORY OF STRUGGLE

I am deeply honoured and feel proud and inspired to be part of this Provincial Conference, being held here in the historic city of Upington in the Northern Cape. 
The inspiration comes from the fact this is an important city which played a monumental role in the struggle of our people against the tyranny of apartheid. 

Upington played a historic and a significant role in shaping the national thinking and perspective around issues of human rights, and in particular in our resolve and determination to abolish the death penalty in our country.

The fact that our country has a constitution and Bill of Rights today which guarantees the right to life and a provision that prohibits the practice of death penalty owes much to the events which took place in this city, with regards to the Upington 26 Trial. 

We remember the pain, the hurt, the agony that our people went through as those comrades were condemned to death, we remember the campaigns that were waged in order to free them as they faced the gallows. 

We must never forget the role that the heroes of the Upington 26 played in the fight against apartheid. 

We must always cherish their sacrifices and struggles that they waged so that our country could be liberated.

YOUTH MONTH, ROLE OF THE YOUTH AND DR. A.B. XUMA: 

Comrades;

We meet here today during one of the most important months in our calendar, June, the National Youth Month. 

Coincidentally, June is also the month when we as the ANC celebrate our Centenary through giving lectures around ANC President's and other leaders who have made an important contribution in our struggle. 

This month we will be honouring and remembering one of the ANC President's who was instrumental in ensuring that the youth were propelled to the centre stage of our struggle, Comrade President Dr. A.B. Xuma.

President Xuma, came into the leadership of the ANC when he won the ANC leadership contest against President Zac Mahabane by 21 votes to 20 in the ANC's National Conference of 1940, and helped to transform the ANC.

Gail Gerhardt and Thomas Karis in their book "From Protest to Challenge" say that: 

"During Xuma's nine years as president of the ANC, the organisation underwent great changes and attracted a far wider following than it had previously enjoyed. Independent and often competing provincial factions were brought to heel, and authority at the centre was strengthened, in part with the aid of a revised constitution." (p. 165). 

It was under Dr. Xuma's capable leadership and tenure that the ANC realised the critical importance of the role of the youth in the struggle. 

It was under his leadership that the ANC in its 1942 national conference took a resolution to establish its own ANC Youth League, a decision that finally reached its fruition when the ANC Youth League was finally launched in 1944.

We therefore have Dr. Xuma to thank for that insightful decision and for providing leadership on the matter. 

While the decision and ultimately the implementation of that resolution ultimately lay with the youth, it is important to acknowledge the progressive role played by the ANC President Dr. Xuma towards the realisation of that decision. 

Dr. Xuma allowed young people political space to work in the ANC and around him, hence they became known as Xuma's Young Turks. 

He created a conducive environment for the formation of the ANC Youth League as well as the ANC Women's League, and thus put youth and women matters in a different trajectory. 

It was also under Xuma's leadership that the ANC developed the African Claims an important document on ANC's goals. 

Dr Xuma was also instrumental in encouraging and nurturing alliance politics, by working closely with the South African Indian Congress and the Communist Party of South Africa. 

In 1947 he signed the Doctors Pact with the Dr. Dadoo and Dr. Naicker thus laying foundations of a later full scale-alliance between the ANC and the Indian Congresses.

On this Youth Month we honour and salute the entire ‘Class of the 1944 Youth Generation' which was responsible for the birth of the significant and vibrant organisation, the African National Congress Youth League, which has been in the forefront and the cutting edge of our struggle since its formation. 

We salute all the young people who played an instrumental role in ensuring that the ANC Youth League was formed. Amongst them Anton Lembede (first President), Oliver Reginald Tambo, Dr. Diliza Mji, A.P. Mda, Nelson Mandela, Congress Mbatha, Zami Chonco, and many others.

Many of those who were part of the 1944 Class and Generation of the Youth went on to play an instrumental role in our struggle, at difficult and critical moments, they helped to shape the direction of our struggle and put in a new impetus in the path leading to our freedom. 

The Class of 1944 was disciplined, selfless, heroic, brave, innovative, visionary and led by example at all critical phases of our struggle. Their first major intervention came when they spearheaded the adoption of the militant 1949 Programme of Action, which revolutionised the ANC in the fifties to make it a fighting mass movement. 

They played a critical role in the Defiance Campaign of the ANC, and also in the adoption of the Freedom Charter by the ANC in 1955. 
They were also in the forefront of struggle when the ANC changed its methods of struggle and adopted the armed struggle. 

They led in the formation of uMkhonto we Sizwe, after the banning of the ANC. They led the ANC in underground and all major campaigns during the times of illegality. 

What that generation did and achieved is incomparable to what all the generations of the youth have done after that. They left a lasting legacy that inspired all future youth generations.

Comrades;

Each generation of young people has always carved its own niche at various stages of our national democratic revolution. 

Following the 1944 Generation, the early 1960's saw an emergence of another youth generation which was prepared to take our struggle forward which swelled the ranks of uMkhonto we Sizwe.

This generation played an instrumental role in the formation of uMkhonto we Sizwe and made a mammoth contribution in executing the armed struggle, and some of them lost their lives during the Wankie-Sipolilo Operation, and those who survived later played an instrumental role in the national democratic struggle, including the late Comrade Chris Hani.

This was followed by another group of dedicated and fearless youth - the Class of June 1976 which changed the course of history by challenging the myth about the might of apartheid by leading the struggle for a better education system and an end to an oppressive apartheid regime.

They were followed by the Class of Peter Mokaba and his generation of young lions which responded to the call of making South Africa ungovernable and making the South Africa unworkable so that our country could be free from the mid 1980s up until freedom was achieved had been inspired by these previous generations. 

The task of the Class of 1994 was different and was made easier by the generations which preceded them. 

This is the class which contributed to the demise of apartheid by voting overwhelmingly for the ANC and thus led to the birth of a non-racial, non-sexist and a democratic South Africa.

Today we have a present generation whose duty and responsibility is to defend the democratic gains of our struggle, through voting in large numbers during national and local government elections and in strengthening the ANC. 

This generation is also tasked with leading in the struggles for the total transformation of our society including both at a social and economic level. 

Its main responsibility is to ensure that during its lifetime the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality is addressed. 

When we celebrate the ANC Centenary we are proud that the ANC since the early 1950's has always been a radical, militant mass movement of the people which led the struggles for the total liberation of our people. 

The Youth Month reminds us of the contributions that all youth generations of our country have made in the struggle for liberation. 

As we meet we are reminded about the challenges that still face the youth of our country today. 

NATIONAL POLICY CONFERENCE -

These challenges can be addressed by fully understanding the role of the ANC as an agent for change. 

It needs a better understanding of all ANC policies and our approach to issues as the revolution unfolds. 

At the end of the month the ANC will be holding its National Policy Conference in Gallagher Estates where all delegates of the ANC from across the country, will meet, debate and chart the Way Forward for the ANC as to how we will address the challenges that face our country. 

ORGANISATIONAL RENEWAL: 

The 52nd Polokwane conference identified organisational renewal as a key challenge and factionalism and ill-discipline, as key obstacles in achieving organisational renewal. 

It says Mangaung must help us to deal with internal organisational challenges if we are to achieve organisational renewal. 

To do this we are instructed to develop a 10 year programme 2012 - 2022 of organisational renewal. 

Our document on Organisational Renewal asserts that, the primary mission of the ANC is to serve the people. 

It says as we mark 100 years we must take into cognisance the fact that all organisations face challenges, they have their ups and downs, but what has sustained the ANC over the years is its ability renew itself its ability to adapt to changing conditions.

It has done so because the ANC is firmly rooted amongst the masses, it's primary concern are the people. 

The ANC is guided by a viewpoint that in whatever it does it must safeguard the interests of the majority of the people.

The ANC is committed to renewing its dynamic contact with the people so that they will not be spectators in the process of their liberation, they must be active participants. 

The main thrust of organisational renewal is that the centenary presents our organisation with an opportunity to reflect on our past in order to draw strength and courage to usher our movement and the country onto a new path. 

We must overcome the constraints and limitations of the first two decades of democratic transition by building capacity to effect change in the state, the economy and society in general. 

To do this we need to ensure that the ANC takes a new strategic posture of being a transformative movement and a strategic centre of power in practice.

This is a call for the rebirth of the ANC as it enters its second century of existence. 

To do this we need to change from our current preoccupation with palace politics and internal power struggles, and return to transformative politics and a new activism that focuses the energies of the membership, activists and cadres on serving the people and changing our society and the world for the better. 

Both the Polokwane conference and the NGC of 2010, called for a focus on organisational renewal, and resolved to take drastic steps to reverse negative tendencies which were eroding the political integrity and moral standing of our movement amongst our people. 

In order to achieve organisational renewal the NGC felt that there was a need for a resilient, courageous, principled and decisive leadership, a committed and conscious cadreship and an active civil society and mobilised population.

THE SECOND TRANSITION

Our Policy document the Second Transition tackles the long term challenges that face the ANC as well as the country. 

It looks at where we come from as a movement as a hundred year organisation, looks at all the historical landmarks that have shaped the ANC, and takes a long-term view about our future. 

It implores us to approach the upcoming Mangaung Conference, in a similar fashion with other landmark conferences of the ANC like our founding 1912 conference, the 1949 conference which adopted the militant Programme of Action, the 1969 Morogoro Conference and perhaps also the Kabwe Conference of 1985, which were all watershed conferences in the history of our movement.

Our Policy Documents focus on six critical areas, that is (i) Reflections on the last 18 years, (ii) Characterisation of the National Democratic Society, (iii) The Balance of Forces in 2012 and the Motive Forces, (iv) The Global Balance of Forces, (v) Thoughts and Content and Form of the Second Transition and (vi) The Pillars of National Democratic Revolution in the current phase. 

Comrades, there is a general consensus that the past 15 to 18 years has seen our country has experienced a peaceful, political and democratic transformation. 

However there is also general consensus that our society faces fundamental challenges that prevents it from achieving its goal of an inclusive, non-racial and non-sexist country, and that this centres around the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. 

This means that we must build a new national consensus for the next fifty years, which should lay the basis for a second transition of social and economic transformation, building on the foundation of our political transformation.

We need a second transition (not continuation) because the first transition was relevant to the political transition, but is not adequate for a social as well as economic transformation phase. 

Despite the liberalisation of our economy, it is clear that the structure of the apartheid economy has remained intact, and does not allow for higher or inclusive growth. 

The document also notes that the economy has failed to create jobs at the pace necessary to reduce extreme levels of unemployment, and the education system has failed to ensure that equalised public spending on schooling leads to improved education for poor black children. 

We must therefore single-mindedly focus on overcoming the triple challenges, of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

The Policy Conference must include a discussion on these issues so that it can provide the country with a vision and a long-term view that will take South Africa forward. 

It says that our economic transformation should focus on achieving a rising per-capita income, full employment, and our targets must demonstrate real and visible progress in reducing wealth and income inequalities.

We also need an economic development model that will take into account our natural resources in the form of minerals, coastline, and build on the existing capacity in manufacturing and services. 

It emphasises the fact that we remain committed to a mixed economy, with state, cooperative, social ownership co-existing with a vibrant private sector, and how we will achieve optimal mix in all the sectors of our economy.

The document also highlights that the debate on the mining sector has focussed on whether to nationalise or not. 

It argues that this is a limiting approach because based on our plans of industrialisation driven by mining, we will have to adopt a mixed approach in this sector as well. 

Comrades; 

As we approach the Policy Conference we must engage with the National Development Plan proposals, in order to answer questions raised in the Second Transition document, and how we will address strategic sectors within our economy including, mining, finance, telecommunications and others. 

Comrades; 

Besides the economic transformation, there is also the issue of social transformation which must also be addressed with the same seriousness.

We must regard people as a fundamental resource that is central to the development of the economy, society and the nation as a whole. 

Our approach to social transformation must be people centred, they must be involved in their own development. 

We must ensure that people receive their basic rights to shelter, food security, health services, education, water and sanitation. 

A key aspect of social and economic transformation is the investment in education and health of all our people. 

This means that we must invest in education, health, ensuring a social wage, providing basic services and building integrated and sustainable communities. 

We will also need to deal with corruption and crime, develop and preserve our arts and culture, sports, heritage and language in order to promote social cohesion and nation-building.

Comrades; 

The pursuit of any revolution, and the NDR in South Africa, also means that we should not only focus on the political, social and economic transformation, but we must also be constantly engaged in the ideological struggles, the battle of ideas. The struggle for the hearts and minds is also very critical. 

WHAT TYPE OF AN ANC DO WE WANT TO BUILD?

We want to build an ANC that is people centred, that responds to people, cares about their plight and circumstances. In short the ANC that serves the people.

We want to build an ANC that is creative, innovative, disciplined and united. 

We want to build an ANC that is capable of analysing the national balance of forces and also understands global developments and responds adequately when it tackles challenges.

Amandla!! Awethu!! 

Issued by the African National Congress, June 8 2012

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