JOHANNESBURG - African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa said one of the ruling partys biggest achievements over the past 30 years is increasing the number of people on social welfare grants in order to deal with poverty.
Ramaphosa was giving the ANCs January 8 statement at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on Saturday.
The president said in 1999, about 2.5 five million of citizens received a government grant, and that number now stands at about 28 million.
During that period, the unemployment rate in the country increased from 20,42% to 31,9%.
Ramaphosa: In 1999, only 2.5 million people had access to social relief. In 2024, 28 million people are beneficiaries of the ANC governments efforts to deal with poverty. This means more than 47% of South Africans rely on social grants. @Alpha_Mero25 pic.twitter.com/CBxa4AKV4M ' EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) January 13, 2024Ramaphosa said less people now go to bed hungry due to government grants.
Twenty eight million South Africans get assistance from the ANC-led government to deal with poverty, that is one of the great achievements of our government to help our people deal with poverty.
Ramaphosa said critics who say the lives of average people have not improved since 1994 are simply lying.
Whether they like it or not, the South Africa of today is different and vastly improved from the South Africa of 30 years ago. And that has been brought about by the ANC.
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Ramaphosa said the partys 112th anniversary comes at a difficult time for both the country and the world.
The statement comes on the heels of the country's looming seventh democratic general elections, where analysts suggest that the ANC is in greater danger of losing power for the first time since the end of apartheid.
Ramaphosa said despite the challenges, the ruling party takes pride in what it called the improvement of the lives of many South Africans over the past 30 years.
In 2024, we will focus on working together with the alliance and all sectors of society to accelerate the reconstruction of our economy, to deliver quality basic services, infrastructure, renew the ANC and society.
