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Comrades,
Friends,
Fellow South Africans,
We are gathered here today to say that the future of our country is in
your hands.
This is a call to the young people who want to learn and to work and to
build a life that is better than what they have today.
It is a call to the mothers and the fathers, who want decent homes and
quality health care, who want to live in safe communities, and who want
the best for their children.
This is a call to the workers, who want decent wages and a healthy
workplace, who want to gain new skills and be given new opportunities.
It is a call to the labour tenants and farm workers, who want land they
can call their own, who want water and seeds and implements.
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This is a call to all South Africans: black and white, young and old,
women and men.
It is a call to action.
This a moment when we have to choose between the past and the
future.
As the people of South Africa, let us declare with one clear and loud
voice that we choose to go forward.
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We have met people whose lives have been transformed over the last
25 years of democracy.
But we have also met people without work, without proper shelter,
without a high school education, without running water or decent
sanitation.
We have met people with disability, who have told us about the
discrimination they face, about their struggles to access education and
the particular difficulties they have finding a job.
We have met young and old, women and men, African, coloured, Indian
and white.
We have heard them speak with many voices of their aspirations, their
concerns and their frustrations.
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And we have heard them speak with one voice about the country they
love and the united and fair nation they want to live in.
They have told us where service delivery has failed, where infrastructure
has not been maintained, where people with authority and responsibility
have stolen money.
They are frustrated at the slow rate of economic growth and the grinding
effects of poverty and unemployment.
They have raised these issues with us – directly and bluntly – because
they know that the ANC is the only organisation that can address their
concerns.
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We have said that we will raise R1.4 trillion in new investment over 5
years.
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We have experience.
The ANC has shown, over many years, that we can work with labour
and business and communities to mobilise investment, to create jobs, to
improve working conditions, to implement a national minimum wage.
But if all of these efforts are to be successful, we must ensure that the
youth of this country have the skills they need now and into the future.
Working together, we will ensure that all our children receive the
best quality education possible.
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If we do not reach our children before the age of 5, they will spend the
rest of their lives catching up.
Unless they can read and write from the earliest years of school, they
will always struggle to learn, to understand and to find jobs.
Unless they have teachers who are competent and committed, unless
they have parents who are supportive, unless we have education
officials who are honest and efficient, we will fail our children.
We will not allow the doors of our universities and colleges to remain
closed to the children of the poor and the working class.
That is why the ANC is expanding free higher education and investing
more in TVET colleges to develop the skills our economy needs.
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That is why the ANC is building more clinics and hospitals, and training
more doctors, nurses and other health workers.
It is why the ANC will build a million houses over the next five years, and
ensure that more work opportunities are provided closer to where people
live.
And yet, patriarchal attitudes continue to deny women and girls their
dignity and rights.
They bear the brunt of poverty and face discrimination in the workplace.
That is why we will ensure that girl children complete school and realise
their academic potential, that women have equal opportunities at work,
and that, working together, we end all forms of gender-based violence.
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And that is why 53 percent of the ANC’s candidates in this election are
women.
Let us declare, here and now, that we will never surrender our freedom
to corruption and state capture.
We will fight with every means at our disposal to ensure that those who
occupy positions of authority serve only the public interest.
Over the last year, we have taken decisive steps to fight corruption
across society.
But the road ahead is long, and there is still much more to do.
But let there be no doubt – those responsible for state capture and
corruption will be held to account.
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That is why we have been working hard to restore the integrity of our
movement.
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We have been working to rebuild structures that are in touch with the
people and which take forward the struggles of communities.
We salute your commitment to a better and brighter South Africa for all.
We cannot allow all the hard work of the last few months to be wasted.
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We must do everything within our means to ensure that every ANC voter
casts their ballot and that every ANC vote is counted.
The work we do over the next few days will determine the future of our
country for many years to come.
And remember you have two votes, one for national and one for
provincial.
Although the ballot paper is very long, it is very easy to find the ANC.
You will see the name of the ANC, the logo – in the form of the spear,
the shield and our black, green and gold flag – and the face of a certain
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There is no alternative.
Today, we want to thank the many, many South Africans we have met
over the last few months, who have shared with us their worries, their
suggestions, their hopes and their dreams.
We call on South Africans to vote for the only party that can unite South
Africans in realising our common aspirations for a better life.
Let us build a nation of solidarity, where each takes responsibility for the
wellbeing of the other,
Let us build a great country, which belongs to all South Africans, and in
which all South Africans belong.
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Vote ANC.
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