Good Afternoon Comrades, leadership of the ANC, the Women’s League, the Youth League and Veterans
Cadres deployed to Government and other pillars of struggle
Cadres and Leaders of the Alliance and our Traditional leaders

I am pleased to be addressing cadres of the ANC in the Limpopo province, as we recall the giant of our struggle, Oliver Reginald Tambo and the indelible contribution he made to our struggle and to the democratic South Africa, even though he did not live to see its birth.

The Great North of course is also home to other giants of resistance, of the movement and our people, being where you are located on the frontlines of struggle.

The processes leading up to National Conference are in progress, and we should remember the responsibilities of this highest organ and gathering of our movement.  Yes, it must elect a leadership, but it must also ensure that the organization is intact and that it has a strategy and policies that will continue to ensure that the ANC remains a movement of the South African people.

Our Strategy and Tactics talk about the five pillars of social transformation:
·  the transformation of the economy

· building a developmental state

· ideological struggle

· international work; and

· organizational work.

These pillars are key to the building of a national democratic society, a society that has succeeded in resolving the contradictions of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

We must therefore locate our work in the context of the task of radical transformation, and how each pillar contribute towards this mission.

The Limpopo province, like the whole country and indeed the African continent, has natural endowments that must aid this process.  Firstly, these are our people, across generations, ethnic groups and genders, in who we must invest, their health and education.

The majority of our people, furthermore, are youth and women, and we must have specific mechanisms to empower these two groups.  For youth, it means education and skills, as well as economic opportunities, for school leavers and unemployed youth alike.  Similarly the empowerment of women means access to education, to assets and to economic opportunities.

These two groups, along with the broader population, stand to directly gain from radical transformation.

Limpopo as a province has its mineral resources, it has its land and agricultural sector, tourism, as well as the cultural sectors, amongst others.  We must look at these sectors, and all other subsectors, like logistics, agro-processing, manufacturing and value addition, as well as infrastructure development so that we transform the structure, ownership, management and control of the economy.

Agriculture and agroprocessing can play an important role in growing the economy and creating jobs. This is why the issues of land is so critical, coupled with access to capital, inputs and extension services. We must encourage more of our young people to see agriculture as careers, and also ensure that our school curriculum include agriculture.
We must implement these strategies at provincial levels, but also ensure that we bring these strategies down to district, municipal as well as town and village levels.

Comrades, Leadership

We will not succeed in driving all these different programmes, unless we have an organization that is focused and united.

Yes, as a democratic movement we contest for positions and leadership, but we must do so in a manner that preserve the core mission and values of our movement.

Cde Oliver Tambo embodied the kind of leader and cadre that the ANC requires, even today: service, humility, dedication, commitment and focus, and an unflinching love for our people.

This is what is required to restore the integrity and unity of the ANC, its link with the people and as the leader of transformation of our country.

We dare not fail our ancestors, we dare not fail our people, and we dare not fail future generations.

Amandla!