Media Statements

The African National Congress marks this day with a profound sense of remembrance as we honour the passing of Isithwalandwe-Seaparankoe, President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela on the 5th of December 2013. Twelve years later, his absence is still felt across our land because Madiba represented the finest traditions of our movement, courage rooted in principle, humility born in struggle and an unshakeable devotion to serve the people. As the ANC prepares to convene the 5th National General Council on Monday, 8 December 2025 in Gauteng, we return to his life and legacy for guidance, clarity and renewal.

The ANC recalls vividly the news of the passing of Tata Nelson Mandela and how it brought our nation and the world to a standstill. South Africans from all walks of life paused, united in grief and gratitude for a leader who selflessly gave everything for freedom and human dignity. The world mourned a revolutionary who stood fearlessly for justice, peace and equality. His life was a testament to discipline, sacrifice and service, and his values continue to light the path of our movement as it renews itself and recommits to the people.

President Mandela dedicated his life to the revolutionary cause of liberation wholeheartedly. His stature in global geopolitics continues to inform international discourse, yet there are forces who often misuse his name and distort his values for narrow interest. The ANC rejects and condemns, in the strongest terms, the opportunistic invocation of Madiba’s legacy by these right-wing and counterrevolutionary forces which are intent on advancing imperial agendas or undermining South Africa’s sovereignty. His principled stance on progressive internationalism, including his reminder that no country should choose friends for South Africa and that the enemies of the United States are not the enemies of the ANC, remains a powerful guidepost and rebuke to such manipulation.

We remember him as President of the ANC, Commander-in-Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the former glorious military wing of the ANC, and the first democratically elected President of the Republic. He steered and fortified the movement during some of the most turbulent periods of apartheid repression, helping to unite the ANC and build it into a formidable force capable of defeating the apartheid regime. Even in the face of persecution and imprisonment, he remained unwavering in his commitment to a non-racial, non-sexist, united and democratic South Africa. Because of his leadership, and that of countless cadres, we witnessed the birth of a democratic society that we continue to defend and deepen.

As the ANC convenes the 5th National General Council under the theme, “The year of Renewal to make the ANC a more effective instrument of the people to achieve the vision of the Freedom Charter: The people shall govern!

The people shall share in the country’s wealth!” we draw inspiration from the moment President Mandela signed the Constitution into law on 10 December 1996. That historic act affirmed the Freedom Charter as the moral and political foundation of our democratic order. As we gather for the NGC, we recommit ourselves to advancing thesociety he fought for: one rooted in equality, shared prosperity, social justice and the full realisation of the Charter’s transformative vision. The NGC must rise to this historic responsibility by restoring the moral authority of the ANC, strengthening organisational discipline and rebuilding our bond with the people.

The ANC must use this 5th NGC to renew itself as a truly effective instrument of the people. This requires political clarity, disciplined cadres, organisational rebuilding and renewed credibility among communities who look to the ANC for leadership. Our movement must deepen its capacity to govern in a manner that advances the democratic aspirations declared in Kliptown in 1955. Madiba’s values compel us to confront corruption, factionalism and all tendencies that weaken the ANC’s standing among the people, and to do so with urgency and integrity.

On this anniversary, we honour President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela not through symbolic gestures alone, but through a renewed commitment to the principles that defined his life and activism. His example calls on us to reclaim the moral centre of the ANC, revitalise its organisational machinery and accelerate the transformation of society in accordance with the Freedom Charter. In his memory, we reaffirm that renewal is not an option, but a duty owed to the people of South Africa..

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