Mbalula blasts DA for calling Western Cape residents ‘refugees’, warns ANC collapse would harm SA [VIDEO]

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has accused the DA of abandoning residents in KwaLanga, Cape Town, claiming the party ignored efforts to provide housing opportunities and instead labelled South Africans from the Eastern Cape as “refugees.”

Mbalula made the remarks at the Emamnedwini Hotel in uMshwathi, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), over the weekend.

ANC collapse

The secretary-general warned that those who wanted the ANC to collapse were threatening people’s interests.

He claimed that people within the party were responsible for the party’s problems.

“People want the ANC to die. The death of the ANC is the death of people in South Africa. We are seeing this happening in Cape Town. Our people are being called refugees in Cape Town.

A person who damages the ANC should not have their time. The problem is the person, not the party. It is this person who has been given a job, but doesn’t work and puts their hands in the till,” Mbalula said.

Refugees

In Cape Town, Mbalula said residents ultimately built shacks along a railway line after plans to secure housing failed to materialise.

“Our people decided to build shacks on the railway line here in KwaLanga, Cape Town, instead of following through on what I had initiated to get people houses,” Mbalula said.

He alleged that land had been identified to accommodate residents and give them an opportunity to build permanent homes, but accused the DA-led administration of refusing to help.

“We found plots for our people to build houses, but the DA refuses to help our people here in the Western Cape,” he said.

Mbalula also took aim at the DA over comments he says were made about the affected residents, claiming the party referred to South Africans, many of them from the Eastern Cape, as “refugees”.

“The DA ignored that and instead called our people, South Africans from mostly the Eastern Cape, refugees. That’s what the DA said,” Mbalula said.

[WATCH] THE DA CALLS SOUTH AFRICANS REFUGEES HERE IN CAPE TOWN Our people decided to build shacks on the railway line here in kwaLanga, Cape Town instead of following through on what I had initiated to get people houses, the DA ignored that and instead called our people, South Africans from mostly the Eastern Cape, refugees, that’s what the DA said. We found plots for our people to build houses but the DA refuses to help our people here in the Western Cape. #MbalulaInWesternCape #VoteANC2026 #BuildingCommunitiesTogether

– ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) October 25, 2026

Political battle

Mbalula portrayed the dispute as one of dignity and access to housing, arguing that residents seeking a better life in the Western Cape should not be dismissed or denied assistance.

The remarks are likely to intensify the political battle between the ANC and DA over housing, migration, and service delivery in the Western Cape, where access to land and accommodation remains contentious.

“These are our people, South Africans looking for opportunities and a place to live. We identified plots for housing, but the DA refuses to help them,” Mbalula said.

Mbalula said in the city of Cape Town, especially Kayelitsha, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Langa, and Mitchell’s Plain, “people are going to vote ANC.”

“There is no need for our people to vote DA, because it leaves our people in squalor. We must not give up on Cape Town and the Western Cape, we must take back this city and deliver for our people.”

Western Cape apartheid

Last week, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa said the “spatial architecture of apartheid” remains visible across the Western Cape, arguing that township residents continue to endure inequality and inferior services compared with wealthier suburbs.

Speaking to the media, Ramaphosa said stark disparities in housing, infrastructure, and service delivery in the Western Cape remain evident nearly three decades after democracy’s advent.

The president said township communities deserve the same opportunities and quality of services enjoyed elsewhere in Cape Town and the Western Cape.