Programme Director, comrade Gwede Mantashe,
Incoming President of the 7th ANC led administration, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa,
Leadership of COSATU, the ANC, SACP, SANCO and the leagues,
Comrades, friends, workers across our land,
This is no ordinary election. On Wednesday we will defend the gains we have won since 1994, to ensure we have a government that champions the rights of workers, that continues to invest in the education of the young girl from Soweto to Manenberg.
We see new parties every election looking for votes. Where were they when Madiba was imprisoned, and Solomon Mahlangu hanged during the darkest days of apartheid? They were nowhere to be seen. It was the ANC that stood with workers.
When we fought for this democracy and our Constitution that enshrines workers’ rights to unionise, to collective bargaining and to strike. It was the ANC who stood with us.
It is the ANC who passed laws protecting workers’ rights to a safe workplace, equal pay for equal work, paid maternity and parental leave, unemployment and injury on duty insurance and the National Minimum Wage raising the wages of 6 million workers.
It is the opposition parties who promise to destroy workers’ hard-won rights.
It was this ANC government who worked with COSATU to release R65 billion from the UIF to help 5.7 million workers take care of their families during COVID-19.
It was our President who signed the NHI Act to deliver universal healthcare.
On the 1st of September, the Two Pot Pension Reforms championed by COSATU with the ANC, will come into effect providing relief for millions of struggling workers.
It was President Ramaphosa who rolled out the SRD Grant providing a lifeline to 8 million unemployed South Africans and the foundation for a Basic Income Grant. It is the ANC led government that provides financial support for 27 million South Africans.
It has not been easy. Some who once walked amongst us, chose to treat the privilege to lead as a license to loot and plunged the economy into loadshedding and corruption. We will meet them at the ballot box, and we will defeat them.
We are turning the corner, loadshedding is increasingly a thing of the past, Eskom, Transnet, Metro Rail, SARS, the NPA, the Police are being rebuilt and delivering.
We are seeing investments and factories being opened from Kariega to Atlantis.
We have seen remarkable achievements in the war against crime and corruption. SARS is cracking down on tax evasion. Today it does not matter if you are a Police Commissioner, a Speaker or even a former President. You will be held accountable.
The ANC is being renewed, the state is being rebuilt and society is being cleansed.
It is these good stories that give hope and will see millions of workers vote on Wednesday to defend workers’ hard-won rights and the gains we have won.
The ANC has always stood with workers. We will stand with the ANC at the ballot box and ensure the ANC will lead this nation. The ANC lives, the ANC leads. Amandla!