No short cuts to a really free and prosperous SA

Tomorrow the ANC will celebrate 104 years of its existence mindful that the factory floor of history is littered with the unfinished business of many a revolutionary organisation.

These were what the late Joe Slovo called revolutionary victories that turned out to be hollow fruit.

Since the ANC issued its first January 8th statement in 1972, the organisation has used January 8 to recommit itself to the building a united, nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous society.

In his famous 1987 speech, "Revolution is a Perpetual Teacher", Burkinabe revolutionary Thomas Sankara gave a frank assessment of the progress made in the four years since the revolution in his country.

Assessing how far one has come, and where one is going, wrote Sankara, is not to "mechanically laud our successes", or for the purpose of "triumphal and superficial balance sheets".

But, he said, it was "to better draw the lessons and clarify the road to further progress". In so doing, we certainly mark our successes on the road towards consolidating the national democratic revolution - but it is a time for deep introspection.

The confluence of a series of recent events, the last of which was an ugly racial spat on influential media platforms, have shown us just how fragile the social fabric of South Africa still is.

This is despite our best efforts to give effect to the values of the Freedom Charter with its preamble: "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white."

The ANC has consistently affirmed that nation building should remain one of the top priorities. But to build a strong, successful South Africa all citizens must be committed to the nation-building project, and not at a merely superficial level.

Apartheid tore the social fabric of society apart and the fault-lines remain: economic divisions and inequalities. These have the potential to undermine the reconciliation we have sought so hard to realise.

It is incumbent on all who are genuinely committed to the success of South Africa to not allow her enemies, even within our ranks, to exploit any perceived weaknesses to destroy all we have achieved in the 21 years of democracy.

Since its inception, the ANC sought to unite all the people of South Africa behind a common agenda towards total liberation. This entailed the dismantling of systematic and all-pervasive racism in society.

While we have undoubtedly made significant strides in dealing decisively with institutionalised racism, the founding values of the organisation, including destruction of the demons of tribalism and racism, remain as relevant today as they were in 1912.

True citizenship confers agency. The citizenry are not mere passive recipients of freedom, but active participants in the not just their own personal future but in building the country's future.

True non-racialism cannot be realised unless all citizens take active steps to uphold the founding values contained in the Freedom Charter and the Constitution.

Millions of South Africans see the ANC as a reliable tool to deliver on the vision of a more prosperous and harmonious country. It is therefore not only in the interests of our members that we want to see a stronger, more united ANC, but in the interests of all.

We are not blind to the challenges we face.

Factionalism and self-interest masquerading as political activism continue to present serious challenges to us as an organisation.

As former ANC President Oliver Tambo noted: the ANC has always been ready to accept mistakes and to correct them.

We know that our work is far from complete. The task ahead is formidable. We know there are no short cuts.

The ANC is committed to ensuring that our victory does not turn out to be a hollow fruit.

It is the unity of the revolutionary alliance, headed by the ANC, Slovo wrote, that will put an end to racism in all its forms, and ultimately fulfil the finest collective aspirations of our whole nation.

l Mantashe is secretary-general of the ANC