The African National Congress | A party hated at elections but loved in rallies

Despite the African National Congress (ANC) receiving some of the harshest criticism over claims of corruption hindering service delivery, the party celebrated its 113th birthday at the Mandela Park Stadium in Khayelitsha, where supporters painted the poverty-stricken township black, green, and gold.

In recent years, ANC support has declined, with voters snubbing the party at every election.

However, the former liberation movement continued to draw large numbers to its rallies despite the unhappiness expressed by many.

Although the party staged its birthday party at a far smaller stadium with a capacity of 22,000, the organisation reflected massive support in the Western Cape, where it has continued to receive an elections beating from the Democratic Alliance and other smaller parties in the province.

At the May 29 elections, the ANC managed to get 40% of the vote at the general elections, forcing it to make a coalition deal with some parties to form the Government of National Unity (GNU).

While delivering his January 8 celebration statement, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised that given the party's dismal showing in the most recent national elections, it must either undergo rejuvenation or face decline.

“One of the reasons we lost the elections is because our branches have become weak; they are not functioning as they are supposed to. That is why we lost elections. The ANC branches have led to the party losing its ability to govern independently," he said.

Ramaphosa mentioned that without an adequate response, such a setback could halt or derail the progress of socio-economic transformation.

"The reasons for the electoral decline include the state of the economy reflected in the crisis of unemployment and social reproduction, poor basic services and deficiencies of capable, ethical and responsive governance and the ANC’s organisational weaknesses and damaged brand," he said.

Ramaphosa added that the people's daily challenges will be a thing of the past as they have started mapping out ways to alleviate the dire situations in communities. His remarks came amid the possible disbandment of Gauteng and KZN PECs for losing the elections.

KZN ANC province blamed Ramaphosa, the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, who previously indicated that the two provinces would know whether or not they would be dissolved after January 8.

Mbalula publicly declared that his party would also charge the ANC Gauteng leaders who were constantly tweeting about the organisation.

Mbalula stated last week in Cape Town that there were three options available: either maintain the status quo and “leave the PEC as it is,” provide reinforcements based on the provinces' needs, or “totally overhaul and reorganise, and that can only be done through disbandment”.

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