President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged the ANC to start the election campaign as it faces the most difficult elections since the democratic state.
The ruling party has over the past few years lost support in national and local government elections.
Ramaphosa told the NEC lekgotla on Sunday that the sooner they started with their campaign the better. He said while there had been no official launch of the campaigns by political parties, the campaigns were under way.
He said they needed to get into an election mode with the campaigns across the country.
This comes hot on the heels of the Constitutional Court ruling granting Parliament an extension until the end of February to finalise the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill.
The bill will allow for independent candidates to contest national and provincial elections.
This stems from the Constitutional Court judgment in 2020 after the New Nation Movement took Parliament to court to amend the law.
The law as it stands only allows independent candidates to contest elections at local level.
However, after changes in the law would allow independent candidates to serve as MPs and MPLs.
Ramaphosa told the NEC in Gauteng that it should also discuss the issue of starting with the campaign.
“In just over a year from now our country will be holding national and provincial elections. The ANC will have to engage in probably the most difficult election campaign that we have ever fought. The outcome of that election will have profound implications for the National Democratic Revolution and indeed for the future of our country. Although no party has had an official launch of this election campaign as one observes, the campaign for 2024 elections are well under way. We need to get into an election mode without delay and perhaps this legkotla must be one of the platforms we utilise to actually get our election campaign under way,” said Ramaphosa.
“We must send a clear signal to voters that the ANC is taking all the necessary steps to deal with the challenges that our people are confronted with, especially unemployment, the rising cost of living, crime and poor service delivery. Our focus must be on action, action and action,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the issue of unemployment especially among young people was a serious concern.
He said a number of young people between the ages 15 and 24 were not working, at school or in training.