Johannesburg - The African National Congress will lead the country into a prosperous future as envisaged in the Freedom Charter, president Jacob Zuma said on Saturday.
Zuma was addressing thousands of party supporters and volunteers in Johannesburg during the party's Siyabonga rally.
He added that the party would continue to deliver.
“We can't do anything apart from delivering to our people. We can not disappoint our people who don't disappoint us even once,” said Zuma.
He said the party was humbled by the support shown by South Africans.
At least 11 million people voted for the ANC during the 2014 election.
He added as the party celebrated well into the night, the next day work to implement change would kick start.
“We are working on kicking the pace of delivery in the next administration. Those who will be deployed will work hard. We want to hit the ground running as we now know where the pressing issues are in the country,” said Zuma.
He added that despite their victory, the party had odds stacked against it leading to the elections.
“It has been an election and a half,” said Zuma.
“There were efforts to campaign against ANC. There was a negative campaign to paint the party we don't know.”
Zuma told thousands of party supporters and volunteers that the media had also campaigned against the party.
He said the opposition themselves forgot to campaign but focused on the ANC.
“Many newspapers wrote about the failures of the ANC. Opposition forgot to talk about themselves and spend their time talking about ANC in an attempt to confuse people of this country,” said Zuma.
He added that parties focused on his Nkandla homestead and did not tell the country what they were bringing to the table to change peoples lives.
He said political parties spoke about Nkandla so much, they started believing its what people wanted to hear and were talking about.
“ANC and alliance know politics. While doing door-door, no one asked about Nkandla. They (opposition) started believing that people were talking about Nkandla,” he said.
Zuma added that there was nothing wrong with his homestead and did not understand why they were talking about it.
“There is nothing wrong with Nkandla, there is something wrong with them,” Zuma said.
He said the results should be a sign to opposition parties that South Africans were smart and knew who should be voted for in the country.
He said people wont vote for those who were not with the people.
He had a dig at the Congress of the People.
“Some started with 30 percent but they ended with 2 percent. Instead of organising their party, they were busy talking,” he said. - Sapa