The truth set ANC voters free

Every political party has a moment when it accidentally tells the truth – and that truth kills it.

For the ANC, that moment was at FNB Stadium in Soweto just over a year ago, when President Cyril Ramaphosa stood before thousands of his own ANC councillors and said it out loud: “Those municipalities that do best are not ANC-controlled municipalities … they are often DA-controlled municipalities.”

He even told them: “We need to ask ourselves what it is that they are doing that is better than what we are doing. There is nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing, what Stellenbosch is doing.”

He meant it as a wake-up call. As motivation. As tough love.

But in politics, intention does not matter. Impact matters.

And that one simple observation came back to bite the ANC, and it is still biting. The 2026 local government elections results are testament to that.

First, it destroyed the ANC’s core story. For 30 years, the ANC’s election message was simple: “Vote for us, because the DA is the enemy. The DA will bring back apartheid. The DA does not care for black people. The DA only looks after the rich.”

That story worked as long as it came only from the DA’s enemies. But when the ANC’s own president says the DA governs better, the story collapses.

How can you tell a voter in Soweto, KwaMashu or Mdanstane the DA is racist and useless, when your own president admitted the DA runs the best municipalities in the country?

Ramaphosa gave the DA something no amount of DA money could buy – ANC credibility. He made the DA respectable in the townships.

Second, he gave the DA the perfect weapon – and the party used it with ruthless precision.

Within days, the DA put Ramaphosa’s words on a billboard in Cape Town: “Even President Ramaphosa agrees: Where the DA governs, SA works.”

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis recorded voice notes in English and Afrikaans saying: “I agree with the president. I thank him for that clear endorsement.”

In every ward meeting, in every taxi rank, in every WhatsApp group, the DA did not need to argue. It just played Ramaphosa’s voice: “Listen, even your president says it.”

What can an ANC canvasser say to that? “No, our president was quoted out of context?”

Deputy President Paul Mashatile tried that line but no one believed him.

The auditor-general proved Ramaphosa was right. In the 2023-24 audits, 41 metros got clean audits, many DA-run, and Cape Town was the only metro with a clean audit.

Johannesburg, under the ANC, was on the verge of bankruptcy.

When the facts give the enemy credibility, you have lost the argument.

Third, it demoralised the ANC from inside.

Imagine, you are an ANC councillor. You have defended your mayor for years despite the infrastructure crisis. Then your president stands up and says, in public, the other party does it better than you.

How do you go back to your branch and campaign with pride? You cannot. You have been paralysed.

Senior ANC members were reportedly furious. ANC Youth League president Collen Malatji went on national TV to say: “The DA is not performing anywhere.”

However, everyone knew he was cleaning up after his leader’s comments. Ramaphosa himself had to backtrack days later, saying: “I should have talked about the full equation. Clean audits don’t mean clean streets.”

Too late, the clip was already viral. His attempt at damage control sounded like a politician caught telling the truth and trying to swallow it again.

Fourth, it gave ordinary voters their cue to leave the ANC. This is the most important bite.

Many black voters wanted to leave the ANC for years, but felt guilty. “How can I vote DA? My grandma was ANC. My uncle died for the ANC.”

Guilt of betrayal kept them loyal. Ramaphosa removed this. If the ANC president himself says the DA is better, then voting DA is no longer betrayal.

In last week’s local government elections, that is exactly what happened. Turnout rose to 54.5% because people who had stayed home in 2021 came out and many voted for the DA, not ANC.

In Joburg, the DA scooped around 35% of the votes, the ANC 21%.

The DA’s mayoral candidate in the city, Helen Zille, led her ANC rival Dada Morero 30.6% to 15%. That does not happen without Ramaphosa’s permission slip.

The ANC leader thought he was disciplining his councillors. Instead, he disciplined his own party into the grave.

He told the truth, and the truth set the voters free from the ANC. That is why that simple statement will be remembered as the most expensive one in the ANC’s history.

It did not just bite the ANC. It devoured the party.