By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) alliance partners bemoaned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comments for comparing ANC-run municipalities and DA-run municipalities.
The president was speaking at the ANC’s councillor roll call event at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Monday.
Ramaphosa said it was ‘painful’ to acknowledge that some of South Africa’s best-run municipalities were not under ANC control but instead governed by the DA.
Despite the ANC still holding the majority of municipalities nationwide, Ramaphosa highlighted that it also oversees some of the worst-performing ones, including Maluti-a-Phofung and Ditsobotla.
He stressed that improving municipal finances and achieving better audit results must become a key focus for every ANC councillor.
“Comrades, it cannot and must not be acceptable that in our country we have, we control a number of municipalities,’ he said. ‘It is usually painful each time when the auditor-general comes to report to Cabinet and they put up their report and those municipalities that do best are not ANC-controlled municipalities and I can name it here because there is nothing wrong with competition, they are often DA-controlled municipalities.’
Ramaphosa challenged the party to learn from its rivals, asking councillors to consider what the DA was doing differently in places such as Cape Town and Stellenbosch.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) said that while Ramaphosa may have been valid in his concerns, he should not assume all ANC councillors are failing.
“The wholesale condemnation of the ANC leadership in local government is as unacceptable as the wholesale praise of the DA leadership.”
Congress of the South African Trade Unions (COSATU) indicated that there are differences that matter when it comes to comparing ANC-run municipalities and DA-run municipalities.
“The DA municipalities, yes, are doing better in many areas, often because they have different socio-economic legacies and greater concentrations of wealth and investments.
“But if you go to the townships in those municipalities, be it Khayelitsha or Manenberg in Cape Town, Khayamandi or Ida’s Valley in Stellenbosch, then it’s not a good picture with sewerage running in potholed streets, high levels of poverty and crime.”
Ramaphosa’s remarks served as a call for the ANC to take a hard look at its governance failures and work towards raising the standard of municipal performance.