The ANC, whose electoral support has dwindled over the years, has declared 2026 a year of decisive action to fix local government and transform the economy, setting aside R54bn to improve service delivery. This is as the country is set to hold much-anticipated municipal elections later this year, in which opposition parties expect the former liberation movement to perform poorly. Delivering the ANC’s January 8 statement to party faithful at Moruleng Stadium, North West, on Saturday, party leader President Cyril Ramaphosa said to advance the ANC government and South Africa, the organisation had identified six tasks for the year.
These included fixing local government and improving basic services; speeding up economic transformation, inclusive growth and job creation; and waging war on crime and corruption, and gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). The beleaguered local government sector is dogged by malfeasance and fiscal challenges in which billions of rand have been wasted on fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure annually, affecting delivery of basic services such as potable water, electricity, clinics and refuse collection. “Over the next three years, the national government will invest R54bn to repair water and electricity infrastructure in Buffalo City, Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Joburg, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane,” Ramaphosa said.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa has criticised what he described as an “increasing vocal minority” in South Africa that had thrown in its lot with those propagating falsehoods against the country. Solidarity and AfriForum have openly spoken out against South Africa’s foreign policy and what they describe as the country’s race laws, while the discredited “white genocide” narrative has been parroted by US President Donald Trump.
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