South Africa to launch 2004 presidential elections

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 12, 2003

South Africa to launch 2004 presidential elections

South Africa is to launch 2004 presidential elections across the country in coming April, the ruling party African National Congress announced Friday.

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South Africa is to launch 2004 presidential elections across the country in coming April, the ruling party African National Congress announced Friday.

Manne Dipico, ANC election manager, said at a press conference that more than 400 candidates will compete for the national parliament and about 400 candidates for provincial parliaments.

However, he declined to name the presidential candidate for the country, only saying: "ANC President Thabo Mbeki will lead his 2004 election campaign and the name of the official candidate will be announced later."

Thabo Mbeki is the current president of South Africa while Nelson Mandela won election and became the first black president in its first democratic election in April 1994.

Smuts Ngonyama, head of communication for ANC, said that the African National Congress will launch its 2004 election campaign on Jan. 11, at a mass rally at Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.

"This launch will coincide with the celebration of the 92nd anniversary of the formation of the ANC on Jan. 8, 1912," he said.

The mass rally will be preceded by a function on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 10 in the Ethekwini City Hall in coastal city of Durban, at which ANC President Thabo Mbeki will present the ANC's 2004 election manifesto to invited guests and the media.

The timing of the launch is particularly significant since the ANC manifesto will outline the organization's program to take forward the vision of national liberation which motivated the ANC's founders over nine decades ago.

"While we have made enormous progress towards this vision over the last ten years of democracy, this manifesto will outline the challenges and tasks that still remain - and the organization's program to meet these challenges," he said.

The manifesto is the result of an extensive process of discussion and review within the ANC and among its alliance partners, and which has included broad consultation and discussion with a range of social sectors and organizations.

He said that he election will take place at an important moment in South Africa's history, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of democracy.

"It will be an opportunity to celebrate our freedom, to evaluate the progress we have made, and to focus attention on the challenges that lie ahead," he added.

According to the ANC statement, the election takes place in the context of a democracy that has developed and matured remarkably over the last decade. It takes place in a country that has achieved a level of political and economic stability that seemed impossible just 10 years ago.

But the challenges facing the country remain daunting. Ngonyama said: "In approaching this election we will therefore need to ensure that all South Africans are part of deciding how the country should best respond to these challenges."

The ANC will therefore engage in a massive mobilization program ahead of the final registration weekend on Jan. 24-25 to ensure all South Africans of voting age are registered and able to participate in the election.

The national launch of the campaign will be followed on 18 January with campaign launches in each of the provinces.

Further details of the events and media opportunities will be made available in the first week of January, and will include a pre-launch media briefing.

South Africa announced on Thursday that it will use 17,000 polling stations for the 2004 elections - 2,000 more than the number used in the last nation-wide municipal poll.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said in coastal city of Cape Town that most of these additional stations would be situated in former homelands and traditionally black residential areas. Forty three percent of the 3.5 million voters who registered this year lived in rural areas.

South African political analysts believe that the fight against poverty, creation of an equitable economy, employment and the speedy reduction of dependency on social welfare will be the issues forming part of the ANC's election campaign strategy.

David Monyae, a Wits University analyst, said: "In reviewing its mandate to govern the ANC will prioritize key challenges confronting the poor masses, namely jobs, health, housing, education, land, crime and peace and security on the African continent."

"One doesn't expect fundamental shifts in the ANC's domestic and foreign policies. Rather, there will be an attempt to consolidate existing policy directions and maybe a review in a few select areas, for example, effective service delivery in the social sectors, such as health and education," he added.

Even though South Africa's economic performance is satisfactory, about 5 million South Africans are living with HIV and AIDS, unemployment rate is about 40 percent high and a huge number of previously disadvantaged South Africans live in abject poverty.

According to a recent National Productivity Institute report the number of South Africans living in poverty is estimated at anywhere between 45 percent and 55 percent or about 20 million to 28 million people and is not confined to any one race group.

Kenny Hlela, an analyst from the Center for Policy Studies, said the creation of an equitable economy will also form part of the ANC's election campaign call.

"I believe the ANC will put more emphasis on redistributive policies. Already the ANC government has made commitments to an extensive public works program which promise to employ a number of poor people," he added.

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