Jean-Jacques Cornish

Cyril Ramaphosa says liberation history is not enough to guarantee the ANC electoral victory

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ruling African National Congress can no longer expect the people to vote for it simply because it liberated them from apartheid.

He says to win next year’s election the ANC has to address the needs of  the broadest range of South African especially the youth.

Fraught with debilitating factional fighting and power battles playing out in its own structures, South Africa’s  ruling  ANC faces an uphill battle in next year’s election.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took over the leadership of the party at the end of last year,  has kicked off the process of drafting the ANC’s election manifesto.

He likens it to drawing up the Freedom Charter which was adopted 63 years ago.

Ramaphosa told a manifesto workshop  the party wants to hear as many views as possible to draft a revolutionary document that includes input from academics and experts.

He urged participants to challenge conventional thinking and interrogate existing programs.

According to him, the manifesto has to be one message told with many voices.

He urged those responsible not to hold back, to be as direct as possible, and to call a  spade a spade.

Ramaphosa added that the centre must hold at all  costs as the election message is propagated.

Former president Jacob Zuma arrived at the worship while Ramaphosa was speaking to delegates.

Enquire about availability for radio, podcasts, reporting or opinion pieces.

Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.