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At least a quarter (25.6%) of ANC-led municipalities are dysfunctional and just under half (41%) have been identified as medium risk, according to data presented at the party’s lekgotla, which was concluded on Tuesday.
This prompted the ANC to form a task team to lead its interventions at the municipal level to improve service delivery.
At the three-day lekgotla, local government issues, such as the provision of water and sanitation, were identified as contributory factors to the party’s electoral decline. It lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the 29 May elections.
The ANC is expected to start its interventions in the City of Johannesburg, where there is currently a leadership battle. Party president Cyril Ramaphosa has directed the party’s National Executive Committee and Gauteng provincial leadership to sort out Johannesburg’s leadership saga and service delivery crisis.
The ANC and ActionSA have called for the removal of the city’s mayor, Al-Jama-ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda. However, Gwamanda’s party leader, Ganief Hendricks, wants Gwamanda to stay in the role until Christmas.
Read more: Joburg mayor who wanted to leave now wants to stay until Christmas
The ANC’s Johannesburg region has strongly endorsed the city’s MMC of finance, Dada Morero, for the mayoral post.
Morero, from the ANC, has long been touted for the position but was stymied by the coalition in the city. Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad was initially installed as a compromise mayor in January 2023 after the ANC and EFF took over the city and each wanted a candidate from their party to be mayor.
After Amad was removed, Gwamanda was voted in, again as a compromise by the EFF-ANC coalition.
Read more: Minority government in Gauteng on shaky ground as ANC moves away from EFF
Effects of local government on ANC
The ANC’s analysis showed that its poor showing in the 29 May elections — when it declined from 57% in 2019 to 40% — was due to voters staying away from the polls or voting for other parties in protest.
The ANC wants to arrest any further decline in the 2026 municipal elections.
Read more: ANC haemorrhaged votes because people lost confidence in it, NEC to hear
Speaking at the closing of the party’s lekgotla, Ramaphosa said the seventh administration needed to focus on building capable and developmental local governments.
“It is in this sphere of government where the state can have the greatest effect and where there is now the greatest need.
“The lekgotla has identified the value of the District Development Model in aligning the work of all spheres of government more effectively in strengthening the provision of local infrastructure and services,” he said.
The lekgotla called on the government to focus on the prevention of crime and address the social and economic conditions that fuel crime and violence.
Read more: ‘Adapt or die’ – ANC NEC reflects on 2024 election losses
“We have agreed that local government must be placed more firmly on the national agenda, because the performance of local government is vital to the success of our efforts to achieve inclusive economic growth and reduce poverty.
“As the ANC and [Tripartite] Alliance, we need to take a far more assertive role in mobilising communities and all social formations in a countrywide effort to tackle crime, gangsterism and violence,” said Ramaphosa. DM
