By Enyichukwu Enemanna
South Africa’s President has called on his co-ruling African National Congress (ANC) to address its poor record on providing basic services as the country gears up for local elections in which the party’s share of the vote is widely expected to slide.
Cyril Ramaphosa while addressing leaders of his party on Saturday at a televised event in Rustenburg, Northwest Province, to celebrate 114th anniversary said, “the first task for our movement in 2026 is to fix local government and improve services.”
South Africa is expected to hold local elections at a date not later than November, and the ANC often performs poorly in local polls than national, as voters vent their frustrations over a number of governance issues, including leaky water pipes, sewage discharges and poor road network.
In the 2021 local election, the ANC won less than half of the votes for the first time since the 1994 when the white minority rule was brought to an end.
The poll was a forerunner for national elections in which ANC lost its majority in the parliament less than three years later, leaving it with the option of relying on alliance to form government.
“Municipalities must … fulfill their basic obligations,” Ramaphosa said. “They must fix potholes, remove refuse regularly (and) provide clean water and sanitation”.
The ANC was celebrated for unifying a country divided along race lines, and for one of the world’s most progressive constitutions and judiciaries.
South Africa has long faced power cut but despite Ramaphosa’s declaration that chronic power shortages had ended, some municipalities continued to have local outages.
He pledged 54 billion rand ($3.28 billion) in state funding for water and power infrastructure.
Growth has improved but unemployment remains high, and many young people were starting to “question whether our democracy … and indeed our movement really work for them,” Ramaphosa said.
