Marikana should not have happened. We are all to blame, and there are many stakeholders that should take the blame. But taking the blame should mean that we should make sure it never, ever, happens again.
— Cyril Ramaphosa
The ANC will never die; it will live.
There is nothing wrong with students demanding free education, and, in fact, it is something that our children deserve.
Free education for all - whilst it is a desirable notion, in South Africa it will simply not be affordable.
We want to open spaces for young people to thrive in this economy, and that is why we said... when government buys commodities and services, we must have some set aside for young people.
We now know, without any shred of uncertainty, that billions of rands of public resources have been diverted into the pockets of a few.
We must be determined to get rid of factions within the ANC. We must get rid of divisions within the ANC.
Money has come to play a very bad role in the ANC; people's votes are bought, and patronage has become the order of the day. All those deviant tendencies need to be curbed.
We have brave hearts and won't retreat. We are not going back; we are going forward.
We need to work together as social partners to focus on our economy by removing all the obstacles to investment and move South Africa to a higher level of growth.
South Africa must come first in everything we do.
We cannot effect meaningful change if we become complacent, if we become comfortable with our own positions in the status quo.
We remain a highly unequal society in which poverty and prosperity are still defined by race as well as gender.
We have to build further on the collaboration with business and labor to restore confidence and prevent an investment downgrade.
If we are to put a stop to corruption and state capture, those responsible must be brought to book.
You can never have unity if you want things to go your way.
We need to remind ourselves of the kind of society of which we have dreamed for so long, for which we have fought, and for which so many lost their lives.
There are times when leadership needs to take a bold move forward. And there are times when the leadership needs to act on the basis of what the grass roots say. You need to have your political thermometer constantly in the political waters to know when to give leadership in what way.
Students want free education because their parents are struggling. The fees of universities and technikons are too high.
It is important that South Africans of all political persuasions be represented in Parliament.
When I was appointed deputy president, I accepted it, and it is the president's prerogative to appoint or remove anyone to the Executive.
Young people must feel that they can be real actors in our economy and be creative and be imaginative and be innovative.
We need to mobilise our structures and our supporters to oppose state capture and corruption in whatever form it takes.
We have all the good policies, all right visions, but the problem is implementation. When we come out of national conference, we want those leaders we have chosen to be those who can implement policies.
I believe things that happen in the ANC family must be handled there.
New schools, hospitals, clinics, factories, bridges, dams, and airports tell the story of a South Africa that has indeed moved forward.
Issues to do with corruption, issues of how we can straighten out our state-owned enterprises, and how we deal with 'state capture' are issues that are on our radar screen.
We will wash and clean the ANC, and it will be the ANC you know. The ANC that will work for the people.
We've got to be moving together, working together, leading the country together, and ensuring that we achieve the objectives that our alliance has set out for itself.
We should put behind us the era of diminishing trust in public institutions and weakened confidence in our country's public leaders.
We need to rid our State Owned Enterprises of corruption because the money being siphoned out should be funding them.
If we are not honest, we are not going to be able to forge unity.
We need to make sure that the ANC branches are strong, that they can lead the communities we live in.
We must again carry the burden of our people and shoulder our commitment to leading them to the promised land.
Leaders are meant to lead from the front, but at the same time, they are also meant to listen to what their followers are saying.
What we want is for our young people to be skilled.
If you read the Freedom Charter carefully, you will find that - the clause that refers to education, and it says education must be free 'on merit.'
We want young people to come forward with bright ideas; we want the women and men in our country to have jobs.
We are a big economy, and we must, therefore, show that we can manage it, but not only manage it, but that can transform it so that this economy works for all of our people so that everyone feels that they have a stake in this economy.
We must be able to identify those who want divide our movement, and say, 'Not in our name.' We need to choose leaders that will not divide the ANC.
We must listen to the concerns of our people without dismissing them. When people see something wrong, there is something wrong. When our people see corruption, it means there is corruption. When our people see that their resources are being stolen by certain people, it means this is happening, and we should listen.
People must respect our movement.
Our Vision 2030 remains the blueprint for inclusive growth, social cohesion, and prosperity for all. Under this plan, we will continue to develop skills that can help our country realise its developmental goals and address labour market issues.
We are going to seek to improve the lives of our people on an ongoing basis, and since 1994, we have done precisely that.
Land has been an issue of great concern to our people.
We must stop the division among us. We must stop factionalism. We must embrace unity; we must embrace working together, because if we are divided, we will not be able to win in 2019.
We must not have an economy that discourages and chases away investors from investing in South Africa.
We should draw deep into Madiba's wisdom. We should draw deep into Madiba's style of doing things in an orderly manner, in a purposeful manner, in a way where we focus.
We must acknowledge that there are factions in our movements... We should not be telling lies to each other; we should tell the truth to each other with the view that there will be unity.
We can make this country the garden of Eden.
