The African National Congress’s (ANC's) people’s assembly will be a festival of ideas and allow the party to listen to its supporters, Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs said on Monday.

"It’s about listening and sharing what our priorities are, so that we have a plan and narrative to communicate to our people. That yes, we do have challenges, but we have a plan to address them," he said.

The assembly would be held on the Grand Parade in Cape Town on Thursday, when President Jacob Zuma presents his State of the Nation address.

The theme for the assembly would be "radical economic transformation". African National Congress leaders were mobilising businesses, churches and communities to attend.

On Monday, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and chairperson Baleka Mbete are scheduled to address business owners in Century City and Philippi, Cape Town.

‘Sense of hope’

The party’s provincial executive committee, which held its lekgotla this weekend, resolved to build unity and stronger branches, become a more effective opposition, and uproot corruption, nepotism and lack of transformation, Jacobs said.

The party also made preparations for the ANC’s national policy conference in December.

The embattled ANC in the Western Cape has been hard hit by factional battles and the suspension of provincial leader Marius Fransman.

"While the PEC has reflected on our internal weaknesses, we emerged from this lekgotla with a sense of hope. We have emerged with the conviction that we can unite and build an ANC responsible to the needs of the people."

Peoples’ patience was not infinite and they had to make sure they addressed the needs of South Africans, Jacobs said.

The party would call on past leaders in the province, including former premier Ebrahim Rasool, to guide them in rebuilding. They were looking for the ingredients that made the Western Cape ANC successful in the past, Jacobs said.