The African National Congress (ANC) has denied claims that their 2024 manifesto was a "cut, copy and paste", given their promises that were not delivered from previous manifestos.
This is after citizens have accused the ruling party of pouring old wine in a new bottle in a bid to attract customers.
Allegations were that the ANC repeated its promises of delivering jobs, free education, and proper healthcare services from their old manifestos.
The party briefed the media at the party’s headquarters, Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Thursday.
This was to unpack priority one of their election manifesto which outlined its plan around massive job creation.
Last weekend, the ANC launched its manifesto at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled six priorities for his party ahead of the 2024 elections, including job creation, re-industrialisation, investing in people, and tackling the high cost of living.
Some of the promises included creating 2.5 million job opportunities for the Tintswalos in the next five years. Several promises like "infrastructure" revamp and "tackling the high cost of living" were tall promises made in the previous manifestos.
The ANC's Zuko Godlimpi said it was a lie that their manifesto was a repetition and that it could not deliver on what it had promised.
He said the party had one manifesto "a better life for all" in line with the vision of the freedom election cycle.
He said the reason why the allegations emerged was that they used the same manifesto, but with a specific focus.
"We bring an iteration of the same manifesto with a specific focus area. This is why you interpret it as a cut-and-paste, it's not. It's about seamless progress over the manifesto on what we will be doing going forward," he said.
He mentioned that 30 years from now, the ANC manifesto will retain the same subject and structure.
Godlimpi said the ANC will continue to deliver on their promises which the manifesto speaks to.
The ANC said it will further unpack their manifesto priorities before the elections. The elections will be held on May 29.
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