6 October 2025, Birchwood, Gauteng
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the outcomes of a special ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting focused on interventions to accelerate inclusive economic growth and job creation. The meeting followed earlier discussions in August 2025 aligned with the government’s Medium Term Development Plan and the priorities of the 7th administration: driving growth and jobs, reducing poverty and the cost of living, and building a capable, ethical, and developmental state.
Ramaphosa reaffirmed commitments to broad-based black economic empowerment and the transformation of the economy, highlighting progress in areas such as infrastructure investment, resolving loadshedding, and improvements in logistics. However, he noted that poverty, unemployment, and low growth persist, necessitating urgent action.
The NEC identified ten priority interventions:
-
Electricity tariffs and infrastructure – preferential tariffs for key industries and installation of 14,500 km of new transmission lines.
-
Freight and logistics recovery – implementing Transnet’s recovery plan and private sector participation in rail and ports.
-
Rebuilding chrome and manganese industries – export tariffs, defensive duties, and industrial expansion.
-
Improving state project management – professionalising management, coordination, and completing catalytic projects.
-
Local economic development – support for townships, rural areas, and small towns with local investment and infrastructure.
-
Labour activation and public employment – expanding the Presidential Employment Stimulus and reskilling programmes.
-
SMME support and investment – concessional finance and transformation of development finance institutions.
-
Provincial economic growth – revitalising industrial parks and promoting labour-intensive sectors such as agro-processing and textiles.
-
Trade diversification – strengthening participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area and expanding exports.
-
Macroeconomic coordination – aligning fiscal, monetary, trade, and industrial policies with innovative financing for infrastructure.
The NEC resolved to establish an Economic War Room in the Presidency to coordinate government performance and publish progress reports. Ramaphosa emphasised governance reform, professionalisation of the public service, rebuilding state-owned enterprises, and enforcing anti-corruption measures, including lifestyle audits and consequence management.
He stated that governance reform is vital for restoring public confidence and enabling the state to lead industrialisation. Economic transformation was described as the ANC’s moral and strategic mission, requiring coordinated industrial policy, innovation, and social partnerships.
The NEC directed government representatives to act swiftly on the plan, ensuring alignment of departmental performance plans with the ANC’s strategic priorities. Ramaphosa concluded that through collective effort and the Government of National Unity, the ANC will pursue these interventions to reignite growth, create jobs, and transform the economy to benefit all South Africans.
Read full document: Statement by ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa on ANC Economic Action Plan at the Conclusion of the ANC National Executive Committee
