THOUSANDS of African National Congress (ANC) members continue to flock to Mbombela Stadium, where party leader Cyril Ramaphosa is due to give his January 8 statement.
The members, who have travelled from all over Mzansi, said they have high expectations of what Ramaphosa would have to address.
Unemployment and free education were at the top of their list of expectations.
Maria Serogoane told the Daily Sun that she had travelled from the North West to hear what Ramaphosa had in store for them.
She said she hopes he will tackle the problem of high unemployment among the youth.
"Our young people are unemployed. We need the president to tell us how he intends to tackle the problem.
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"If they stay at home and do not have jobs, they become criminals and it breaks your heart to see that every day as a parent," she said.
Another member, also from the North West, said she wanted the party to emphasise the importance of school attendance.
"We can only beat poverty if our children go to school. I want Ramaphosa to promote this," she said.
COSATU president Zingisa Losi said he expects the ANC executive committee to discuss plans to expand social stress relive grant, expand infrastructure and solve the problem of load shedding.
"Infrastructure and load shedding are key to growing the economy and attracting investment. We say we want to be part of BRIC and expand AGOA, but if we don’t get the two fundamental issues - load shedding and infrastructure - under control, we will not be able to participate in this grand bargain," she said.
