The African National Congress (ANC) is "strong" and is not on its knees - and opposition parties undermining the ruling party "will be put in their place". 

This was the message on Monday from the president of the ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa, to audiences at two events ahead of the party's January 8 celebrations at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday, 13 January. 

He said the work of previous leaders gave the current crop of ANC leaders inspiration.

This weekend, the ANC celebrates its 112th birthday, in a year where the country will hold its seventh general elections.

Speaking at the gravesite of the late Dr Enos Mabuza at Louwville Cemetery, Ramaphosa said there was still excitement among the people that the ANC was "still alive, still strong".

He said, "It's not dead; it's not scared of anything. It fears fokkol."

Ramaphosa criticised detractors who said the ANC was on its knees, and insisted the party was "standing".

After laying the wreath, Ramaphosa addressed the media, saying the party had a wealth of experience and capability. 

"Even at 112 years, we are truly overjoyed inheritors of the traditions [and] the work that has been done," he said. 

Later on, Ramaphosa gave an address at the cake-cutting ceremony. 

At the end of the address, the president said he was aware of the emergence of new parties. 

He said, "We are prepared to take them on. We're not scared of them. Sizobangena [We will go towards them]. We will put them in their place because we fear fokkol."

"We exist, as the ANC, to serve our people, and our mission remains the betterment of the lives of South Africans. The ANC boldly asserts that we have not wavered from the pursuit of the national democratic revolution." 

The ANC is serious about aiming for a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society, he added. 

Political history

Ramaphosa spoke at length about the ANC's political history and the significance of its birth in 1912, which sought to push back against the repressive Union of South Africa government. 

He said the ANC "can't be airbrushed from existence".

He said the ANC had immersed itself in the hearts and minds of the people. 

"We've reached a beachhead moment ...  [a moment] where now we can march to greater achievements as we move on to improve the lives of our people," Ramaphosa said.  

He said the ANC had sought to reverse the devastating damage of colonialism and apartheid. 

After 30 years of governing, Ramaphosa said, the ANC had changed the country from what it was before 1994, "whether they like it or not". 

Referring to emerging political parties as "Mickey Mouse" and "Donald Duck", Ramaphosa said these organisations would never be able to unite a cross-section of South Africa like the ANC can. 

He highlighted the positive statistic that 95% of South Africa had access to electricity - but omitted the rolling blackouts that continued to haunt his presidency and dent the economy.

At the end of the speech, though, he repeated the years-long promise that loadshedding would be resolved. 

Ramaphosa said South Africa's literacy levels had shot up to 90% since apartheid.

He acknowledged there was an unemployment crisis, saying the administration was listening and coming up with solutions.

He also said there was an "internal improvement" as to how ANC leaders were elected, despite internal allegations of "buying" of delegates at elective conferences, where there had been claims of palms being greased for votes.

Public representatives

He urged the party to extend this improvement to public representatives. 

Ramaphosa said this would ensure that South Africa dealt with corruption "in an effective way".

The ANC's renewal programme was starting to bear fruit, he claimed.

On crime and corruption, Ramaphosa conceded it was an area where the party "needed to strengthen our resolve".

On Palestine, Ramaphosa said the ANC was standing on "principle".

'Hammer blow'

The chairperson of the ANC in Mpumalanga, Mandla Ndlovu, said those whose polls state the province would sink the party's elections numbers were "hallucinating". 

He said the ANC would "hammer blow" all opposition - from the Economic Freedom Fighters, to the newly-formed MK Party, which has the backing of former president Jacob Zuma, and the Multi-Party Charter.

ANC Youth League President Collen Malatji took a swipe at the Zuma-backed MK Party by leading with the chant "Viva, the original uMkhonto weSizwe, viva".

He said a lot of the new parties were formed after the ANC's renewal programme had flushed them out of the party.

"Some of them we've been defending for years," he said, an apparent reference to ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula's statement on the ANC defending Zuma in the Nkandla fire pool scandal.

Malatji called on Ramaphosa to deal with unemployment as it had a ripple effect on crime and other social ills.

He said the banks appeared to be "decampaigning" the ANC, and said Postbank must be transformed into a fully-fledged bank.

"They [the banks] are funding regime change," Malatji said.