ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa, urges ANC councillors to do the 'simple things' correctly. Image: EWN.
(The Post News)- President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted that Democratic Alliance (DA)-led municipalities often outperform those run by the African National Congress (ANC) in service delivery, urging his party’s councillors to “up their game.”
Speaking at the ANC’s roll call for councillors event at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, Ramaphosa said the ruling party must be willing to learn from others. Ramaphosa said, “I can name it here because there’s nothing wrong with competition. They are often DA-controlled municipalities. We need to ask ourselves, what is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing?”
He continued, “And there’s nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing. We want to go and see what Stellenbosch is doing.”
Ramaphosa Cautioned About Poor Financial Governance
The president admitted it was disheartening to witness ANC municipalities regressing instead of improving. “It hurts me deeply when I continue to see that our municipalities sometimes tend to move even backwards. And you are the people who can improve that. The audit outcomes are important,” he said.
Ramaphosa revealed that the auditor general had raised concerns with him about poor financial governance in ANC-run municipalities. “The Auditor General told me that a number of our municipalities’ financial statements were not even prepared at the council level but outside,” he said.
He stressed the importance of deploying skilled individuals to local government. “Our country is not short of people who understand numbers. It’s not short of people who understand accounting. Let us go and get people who understand accounting,” Ramaphosa added.
Mantashe Urges ANC Councillors to Do Better
Meanwhile, ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe delivered a blunt message to councillors, criticizing their lack of capacity. “I know we have a lot of singing councillors, but we have no councils. You all sing well, but capacity dololo [nothing],” Mantashe said to a rowdy crowd, drawing laughter and applause.
Reports indicate that ANC urged its councillors to focus on getting the basics of service delivery right in order to avoid backlash from the communities they serve. Practical priorities include repairing potholes, ensuring streetlights work, and maintaining constant availability to residents.
Ramaphosa stressed that effective governance often comes down to mastering the small, everyday issues. “Comrades, streetlights lighting is a simple thing. It must happen. It is a function that we are capable of ensuring that it is executed. We are talking about simple things; that is why the call to action is a doable one,” Ramaphosa said.
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