President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the annual January 8th statement to an almost half-empty Moruleng Stadium in North West, pointing to the ANC’s declining support, even in a province long seen as a stronghold. ANC bigwigs spent the week in North West, mobilising support, campaigning and fundraising in the lead-up to the party’s 114th birthday celebration, but were unable to fill Moruleng Stadium, which holds no more than 20,000 people. This is striking given that North West is meant to be one of the ANC’s strongholds.
In the 2024 national and local government elections, the province secured more than 500,000 votes, or 58.28% of the national vote. It was among the top-three-performing provinces, alongside Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. The party was unable to fill the venue despite the fact a number of attendees were bused in, mostly from neighbouring provinces including Gauteng and Limpopo.
Access to the stadium proved to be a logistical nightmare, with attendees, members of the media and even some executives spending hours stuck at poorly managed traffic and security checkpoints. While many eventually gained entry, others grew tired of waiting. Although the event was scheduled to start at 10am, President Cyril Ramaphosa only delivered his address later in the afternoon, at which point some chairs remained empty while attendees walked outside to seek shade and others left the stadium as the temperature climbed to a scorching 33°C.
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The drive to Moruleng laid bare the collapse of service delivery, with pothole-riddled roads along the way. In some areas there were clear signs of last-minute road repairs, a common feature of the party’s annual celebrations. Ramaphosa used the celebration to declare 2026 “the year of decisive action” to fix local government and boost the economy, even as the setting suggested otherwise.
Ramaphosa returned to a pledge he made in 2025, to end load shedding and ensure reliable water supply by upgrading, maintaining and expanding municipal infrastructure, while confronting sabotage and corruption. Between then and now, Ramaphosa said, there has been “dramatic improvement” in electricity supply, citing Eskom’s recovery and increased private investment in generation.
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