The ANC’s 2020 anniversary celebrations amid power cuts and an insipid economy

SOUTH AFRICA - Report 13 Jan 2020 by Iraj Abedian

The African National Congress (ANC) anniversary celebrations known as "The January 8" celebrations, during which the ANC delivers its annual statement that is essentially the "state of the party address", took place on Saturday, January 11, 2020. The January 8 statements have their origin in the apartheid era, and were important as they would inform the political party’s strategies towards liberalizing the country from the oppressive regime of the apartheid government. Now as the governing party, the country looks to the ANC January 8 statements as a tone setter for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) and the Budget, both to be presented in February this year.

Yet, even before the celebrations took place, South Africa had already been hit by the rolling power cuts implemented by the public utility, as Eskom continues to struggle to meet the country’s electricity demands due to operational, governance as well as deep financial challenges. This is a pretty good indicator of the dire state of the ANC-led government. And despite admitting the precarious state in which the country finds itself because of Eskom, the ANC statement presented by President Ramaphosa did not give an indication that the ANC will be pushing for speedy policy changes that would see the country less dependent on Eskom for electricity generation.

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This report is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This report is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this report or its contents.