The ANC has conceded that if it does not improve or fix local government, it cannot expect to improve its electoral fortunes going forward. Addressing the two-day Eastern Cape ANC lekgotla in East London on Sunday, national executive committee (NEC) member Mmamoloko Kubayi said the ANC NEC had declared 2026 the year of “decisive action to fix local government and transform the economy”. “Fixing local government and transforming the economy are both underpinned by the same overriding goal, or strategic objective of the national democratic revolution, which is the creation of a better life for all in our country.
“That is to say that ours is a struggle which inherently necessitates selflessness in that anyone who is engaged in a struggle to create a better life for all cannot be preoccupied with the betterment of self at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable. “Local government is a sphere which is at the coalface of service delivery, and it therefore a sphere through which most South Africans directly interface with the government. “It is also the sphere in which people choose their representatives directly.
A ward councillor is determined by the people in that ward, that this is the person who will represent us across political parties. “This is precisely the reason why as the ANC we deem it absolutely necessary that our efforts must concentrate [on] ensuring that local government, as a sphere, functions as an ethical and capable sphere of government,” Kubayi said. She said the January 8 statement reflected that the reasons for the electoral decline included the state of the economy reflected in the crisis of unemployment, poor basic services and deficiencies of capable, ethical and responsive governance and the ANC’s organisational weaknesses and damaged brand.
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“Our theme this year is therefore informed by this honest observation that we made last year. “In this regard, we are saying that as the ANC if we do not improve or fix local government such that we are better able to deliver services and transform the economy, we cannot expect to improve our electoral fortunes going forward. “Our decision to increase our efforts is also informed by the increased effort by the counter-revolutionary forces to weaken the ANC capacity and power to carry out the national democratic revolution. “We have observed as the ANC that these forces to achieve their goals, inform and fund political parties designed to fragment the motive forces of change.
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