Date: 08/01/2010
Source: The African National Congress
Title: ANC: Zuma: Address by the President of South Africa, at the pre-98th ANC Anniversary Gala Dinner, Kimberley

Deputy
President of the ANC, Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe;
ANC Officials and Members
of the ANC NEC;
Leadership of the Tripartite Alliance;
Business,
traditional leaders, members of the diplomatic corps and all sectors
represented;
Comrades and friends,
We meet at this city of diamonds - a day
before the ANC officially celebrates its 98th Birthday Anniversary.

Holding our anniversary in Kimberly provides an opportunity to honour one
of the founding fathers of this movement, Sol Plaatje, the first Secretary
General of the ANC .
Tomorrow we will also be unveiling a statue in his
memory and honour at the Sol Plaatje Municipal Gardens. Our Deputy President
Kgalema Motlanthe delivered the Sol Platje memorial lecture yesterday. We
are doing all this because the ANC is proud of its history and its
traditions.

It is also proud to have produced in the last 98 years, a
legion of leaders who remain icons and shining examples of true African
leadership and excellence.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am happy to see amongst
us, many friends and stakeholders of the ANC from all walks of life. You are
all very welcome in our midst.

Comrades and friends;

Tomorrow we will
reflect on the year that has just gone by to assess the progress we have
made in implementing the tasks we set for ourselves this time last year.

Over the past year our country has been tested by an economic crisis not
of our making.

We have shown that when we work together we are more than
capable of making the country work better.

As we look ahead to 2010, we
need to reflect on 2009 and the lessons we have learned.

We started 2009
with a bang!
Around this time last year, we were in East London to celebrate
the ANC's 97th anniversary and also to launch our Election Manifesto and
campaign.
The response we received from our people was overwhelming.

You
will recall that the mood during that period was tense yet exciting.

We
were in the middle of a difficult but vibrant election campaign undertaken
in a changing environment.

We won with a clear and decisive majority and
began immediately to implement our mandate.

The electorate has given us a
profound responsibility to transform our once divided country into a united,
non-racial, non sexist, prosperous and democratic nation.

Tonight, the ANC
wishes to thank you for your support all these years, as our partners and
stakeholders.

We urge the business community to partner with us further to
ensure that together we create an environment that will attract investment
to our shores, and enable us to create decent jobs and sustainable
livelihoods.

To the international community, the ANC has come this far
through among other things, international solidarity and support.

We will
continue to work with you to build a better Africa and a just world, and
seek your ongoing partnership in that regard.

To organised formations of
broader society, we say be our partners as we strengthen and grow the ANC.

We will continue to work with traditional leaders, religious leaders,
women, youth, business, labour and indeed all sectors of our society to
build the ANC and to build this country.

Ladies and gentlemen,

South
Africa needs a strong, united and focused ANC.

It needs an ANC that can
continue to uphold and promote the Constitution of this country, which can
work with all South Africans to promote reconciliation and national unity,
and which is focused on succeeding in the fight against poverty and building
a better life for all our people.
The country needs an ANC that remains in
touch with the masses of its people, which understands what they are going
through, what they want and what solutions they see for the problems they
face.

In 2009, we were happy to have built on the time-honoured tradition
of the ANC to interact with communities across the length and breadth of our
country, both before and after the elections.

As the ANC we visited all
provinces to thank our people for voting for the movement and to obtain
their support in working together to address the country's challenges.

In
government we did the same.
We have met farmers and farm workers, minority
groups, black professionals, teachers, religious leaders and business
leaders.

We have paid unannounced visits to municipalities and police
stations and met with the station commanders of all the country's police
stations.

Our branches now need to be more active in taking this work
forward, ensuring that they remain in touch with the people and address
concerns as they arise.

We have met with city mayors and managers.
We
have identified areas of weakness.

The structures of the ANC have begun to
make the changes we need to move the developmental agenda forward.

Ladies
and gentlemen,

The country needs a strong and united Tripartite Alliance,
led by the ANC.

We continue to work together as Alliance partners to
further the goals of both the movement and its government.

Do not be
troubled by what appears to be turbulence at times.

The Alliance is a
dynamic and very vibrant organ with thinking members who have strong views.

They will from time to time express those views in a manner that raises
temperatures, but that does not mean that there is conflict or deep
divisions within the Alliance.

The robust debate will continue and must be
encouraged, as it is part of our historical internal democracy.

However we
have naturally impressed upon members to ensure that the debates take place
in a disciplined fashion.

Comrades and friends,

We can safely say 2010
will be a good year as we unite and strengthen this movement towards the
centenary celebrations in 2012, working together as the Alliance.
It will
be a year in which we emerge from a recession that has slowed our pace of
growth and set back the pace of job creation.

We have emerged from the
recession because of the actions that we as a nation have taken, under the
leadership of the ANC government. Our history and our past legacy indicates
that in difficult times, the ANC provides good leadership, stability and
certainty.

We believe we have been able to do that during this period, in
partnership with business, labour and civil society.

We will be sharing our
vision for the year in the January 8th statement tomorrow, taking forward
the implementation of policies that were adopted at our Polokwane conference
in 2007, and refined in our Election Manifesto of 2009.

With your support,
working together, we will succeed in building the kind of society that
visionaries like Sol Plaatje worked and fought for.

Working together in
2010, we can and will do more.

I thank you and wish you a pleasant evening.