The ANC's latest intervention in municipalities comes months before the local government elections.
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa’s instruction to councillors to replicate well-run municipalities, including those administered by his political rival the DA, has not only split his party but also those in the tripartite alliance.
“Municipalities must act decisively to improve audit outcomes, comrades. It cannot and must not be acceptable that in our country we control a number of municipalities; it is hugely 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. 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, we want to go see what Stellenbosch is doing,” he said.
Cosatu wants ANC councillors held accountable
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) told The Citizen that Ramaphosa should hold all ANC councillors accountable for the dysfunction in the municipalities, but his wording could have been better phrased.
“Nonetheless, he was raising the frustrations of working-class communities across the country. The president was expressing the very issues that Cosatu and Samwu have been raising for years at Nedlac, in Parliament, and within the alliance.
“This includes reports, be it from the AG, Cooperative Government and Traditional affairs (Cogta) or National Treasury, that paint a deeply worrying picture of the state of local government, from the non-payment of municipal workers in more than a dozen municipalities in the Free State, Northern and Eastern Cape, and the North West; to the collapse of basic services in many of these same communities or reports of corruption, wasteful expenditure or the failure to spend infrastructure grants,” the federation said.
According to Cosatu, the president has a duty to make sure councillors are working for the people.
“Because the majority of councils are led by the ANC, so too are the majority of dysfunctional municipalities. The ANC is correct to hold its councillors accountable and demand they pull up their socks and turn things around.
“It would be an abdication of leadership if the ANC did not do that, even if it means hurting the feelings of some councillors,” it said.
SACP says Ramaphosa’s words ‘problematic’
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.
“The existence of the uncritical praise of the DA leadership is problematic. The ANC has several examples of municipalities with clean audits and well-run government institutions,” said SACP spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana.
Problems with DA-run municipalities
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.”
This was echoed by the SACP.
“The record of the DA in governance must be viewed with a more discerning eye, just as the record of the ANC deserves criticism,” said Mandlana.
He also blamed corruption for the failure of some municipalities.
“The SACP recognises that the crisis of corruption is linked to the parasitic political class in the state and the private sector that has, over time, weakened the state, leading to the present administrative and political inefficiencies manifesting in service delivery weaknesses,” he said.
Cosatu is currently holding its three-day Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting in Johannesburg.
Ramaphosa was at this meeting on Monday. He delivered a message of support on behalf of the ANC. The SACP was represented by its secretary-general, Solly Mapaila.
This meeting will also determine Cosatu’s stance on its two alliance partners contesting local government elections. This is the first time Cosatu has had to choose between the two parties.
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SACP contesting elections
The SACP is still going ahead with its decision to contest the local government elections for the first time without the ANC.
The party said it will be able to raise funds and resources for its campaign.
However, the ANC’s secretary-general has warned that this move by the SACP will have negative effects for the alliance.
