For more than 100 years, African people waged a protracted struggle for the achievement of their right to political, social and economic freedom. Through the 1994 democratic breakthrough the black majority achieved political freedom without social and economic freedom. Thus President Nelson Mandela correctly declared that in 1994 we achieved the freedom to free ourselves from social and economic bondage.

In 2012 the ANC entered the second phase of the transition to social and economic development. However, the progress we made in this regard shows that much more remains to be done. The limitations of the ANC to achieve social and economic freedom have added to the social distance that developed between the ANC and the people which was caused by the organisation’s focus on the resolution of factional battles which started during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki. ..