Ramaphosa Concedes DA Outperforms ANC In Local Governance

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted on Monday that the country’s best-run municipalities are those led by the Democratic Alliance (DA).

He was speaking to more than 4,500 ANC councillors gathered in Johannesburg for the party’s “roll call” event ahead of next year’s local government elections, where the ANC faces the risk of repeating last year’s heavy losses in the general vote. Ramaphosa said:

“And I can name it here because there’s nothing wrong with competition. They are often DA-controlled municipalities.

“We need to ask ourselves, what is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing? And there’s nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing.

“We want to go and see what Stellenbosch is doing. How do they craft everything? We need to be moving up the ladder of being good at what we do. We cannot forever stay at the bottom.”

Showing its concern ahead of the 2026 elections, the ANC called all its councillors together to assess the party’s standing amid poor service delivery in its municipalities and the rise of rivals like the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, which won a significant share of votes last year.

To address the issue of underperforming councillors, the ANC announced that all members will now have to attend a mandatory training course and hold at least a matric qualification.

The roll call follows the party’s special national executive committee (NEC) meeting in Ekurhuleni over the weekend.

Ramaphosa expressed concern that audit results continue to show ANC-run municipalities lagging, with some financial statements outsourced and often returned with numerous errors. Said Ramaphosa:

“The audit outcomes are important. I’m told by the auditor general that the number of our financial statements are not even prepared at the council level but they are prepared outside. Even when they come back, they are often wrong.

“The cooking of the books must end today. We must get people who can draft the books properly and present an audit outcome that is going to be online, with what is expected.”

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe criticised councillors, saying many were more focused on singing than on performing their municipal duties, which he described as inadequate.

Gauteng ANC co-convenor Panyaza Lesufi stressed the importance of protecting both councillors and whistleblowers who expose corruption in municipalities and other state institutions.

More: Mail & Guardian