South Africa’s Ruling Party ANC Launches Election Manifesto

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday that his party, the African National Congress(ANC), would build on the successes of the last three decades and work to resolve the country's challenges.

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Ramaphosa highlighted the achievements of his African National Congress, which has ruled the country for all of its 30 years of democracy after the overthrow of the apatheid government in 1992, as it heads into a tight race in May's election.

The head of state delivered the party’s manifesto to thousands of ANC supporters gathered at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban in the coastal KwaZulu-Natal province on Saturday where filled the over 50,000-capacity stadium ahead of President.

"We cannot take all this progress for granted, we need to do more and better together" Ramaphosa said, and added that his party ‘‘plans to put South Africans to work, to reduce the high unemployment rate,’’ reffering to the high levels of unemployment.

Ramaphosa highlighted that in the past 30 years, the ANC has been able to meet the basic needs of poor South Africans, such as providing low-cost free housing, water, and electricity, but experts say the high unemployment, one of the highest rates in the world, standing at 32.1%, according to official government figures, could cost the ANC’s voter base.

‘‘Our economy has grown three times since 1994. There were only 8 million South Africans in employment then, now it's 14 million people,’’ he said outlineting the ANC’s success story of the past 30 years of the politician organization.

Recent polls suggest the ANC is at risk of losing its parliamentary majority in the May 29 election for the first time since Nelson Mandela led the country through its first democratic elections at the fall of apartheid.