The ANC intervention in municipalities is part of the party's renewal agenda.
ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe has criticised the party’s councillors in municipalities, saying they lack “capacity”.
Mantashe was speaking in Soweto at an ANC roll call meeting of all the party’s councillors on Monday.
He reprimanded the councillors for being disruptive during the meeting.
“I know that there is a lot of singing, concillors, but there are no councils. You all sing well, but capacity dololo.
“Comrades who are councillors, leaders of the ANC, who make noise when a meeting is underway, what kind of leadership is that? There is no such leadership comrades…
“Ideally, when a dome like this is full of councillors, we would be saying that is the biggest resource the ANC has. The resource that fills this dome is the resource of the ANC, that is what makes a difference between a collapsing ANC and a renewed ANC,” he said.
The roll call is intended to provide ANC leaders in municipalities with orders on service delivery-related matters. It is also meant to prepare regions of the party for the upcoming local government elections.
Councillors ‘under attack’
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, in his welcome address at the gathering, said councillors and officials in municipalities are not safe.
“The message that I suspect all councillors want to bring to the national executive committee (NEC) members of the ANC is one message: to be a councillor in this era is a difficult task.
“Comrade president, our councillors are not only under attack from communities. There are people that are hired, there are people that are resourced, there are people that are on a mission to kill councillors, literally,” he said.
Lesufi said there is a need to protect councillors, public officials and whistleblowers who expose corruption in municipalities.
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ANC performance in Gauteng
Despite a decline in electoral support, Lesufi said the recent by-elections in Soweto proved that the ANC is still the preferred party in communities.
“Last week, we reclaimed a ward that belonged to the ANC as an affirmation that the ANC is on course in this province,” he said.
The ANC in Gauteng and its three big metros are in coalition arrangements with other parties.
Service delivery challenges
According to Lesufi, municipalities across the country face the same challenges in ensuring basic service delivery.
He identified some challenges that Gauteng is dealing with.
“High on the agenda… in all our municipalities, our challenges are as follows: water, ageing infrastructure, cable theft, portholes, mushrooming of informal settlements, lack of electricity, drug abuse, and failing infrastructure,non-functional traffic lights, crime, GBVF, services in our schools and hospitals.
“But the biggest one, Mr President, is the high level of unemployment,” he said.
The ANC has more than 4 000 councillors nationwide, and provincial structures were asked to present a summary of the state of the ANC in their provinces.
Ramaphosa’s message to councillors
Ramaphosa told councillors at the gathering that they have the important work of representing the ANC at community level.
“We cover every area of South Africa, from the eastern seaboard to the western seaboard. From the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. From the northern part of our country to the southern part of our country, along the Agulhas Sea.
“You are the people, comrades, who have the responsibility, the power and the authority to fundamentally transform our society.
“The transformation of our society relies on you, it relies on what you do where our people live. Today, we have got the full cohort that governs our country at national, provincial, and local level,” he said.
Ramaphosa encouraged the councillors to get further education and training so that they can become effective public officials.
“Many people often dismiss our councillors as people who are uninformed, people who are not knowledgeable, people who know nothing, and people who are always making mistakes. A good number of our councillors continue to improve themselves,” he said.
Ramaphosa also spoke about the six-point plan that the party has for intervention in local government.
“We must address core service delivery commitments that comrades are what we need to do…it is service delivery improvement or death for us, and that is how we must approach this.
“What this means is that things like water supply, things like leaks must be fixed. It is unacceptable that, as councillors, as leaders of the people where we live, we can have water leaks, sewage running in the streets and not take any action,” he said.
Ramaphosa said councillors must deal with problems like sewer leaks within 48 hours.
“Because, comrades, this is very simple: if there is such a leak in your house where you live, if there is going to be sewage leaking into your yard, and as a councillor, you will make sure that you attend to it in a short space of time,” he said.
Ramaphosa said councillors must put the interests of communities ahead of their own interests.
“We are servants of the people, and as we serve the people, it is their interests that matter way above those of our own interests,” he said.
He said municipalities must repair and maintain existing infrastructure and build where necessary.
“Our municipalities, comrades, must be fixated on simple things such as fixing potholes and properly maintaining roads. This is not a difficult process,” he said.
He said the ANC must ensure that municipalities are stable so that councillors spend more time on service delivery than internal party politics.
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