By Johnathan Paoli
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued a stern warning to municipalities, urging them to confront corruption and maladministration head-on or risk further eroding public trust in government.
Speaking during the ANC’s special national executive committee (NEC) meeting in Boksburg, Ramaphosa said that corruption was “most prevalent within municipalities” and stressed that political will to hold officials accountable remained lacking.
“The ANC, therefore, needs to be bold in taking action to resolve the dysfunctionality at local government by dealing with this elephant in the room of corruption and malfeasance,” he told NEC members.
The two-day gathering, attended by mayors, municipal managers, and ANC deployees, was convened to assess the state of local government.
The discussions come amid rising service delivery protests across several provinces and ahead of the crucial 2026 municipal elections, where the ANC will be battling declining support.
Ramaphosa emphasised that the lack of accountability and weak consequence management for corrupt or ineffective officials remained at the heart of municipal dysfunction.
He argued that unless decisive steps were taken, public confidence in the ANC’s ability to govern would continue to deteriorate.
“If the people who are deployed get involved in acts of malfeasance and stealing money from the public purse… they must be removed without failure. This is the real heart of accountability and consequence management,” he said.
Ramaphosa added that both elected representatives and appointed officials must “know that accountability now has big legs, and people will be held responsible”.
Citing the Auditor-General’s latest findings, Ramaphosa said political divisions, instability, and poor financial management were central to municipal failures.
Many local governments, he said, were staffed with underqualified personnel who were unable to manage budgets or respond effectively to community concerns.
“Many of the challenges are often caused by poor or inadequately skilled personnel. Most concerning, a lack of requisite financial skills is often highlighted. Too often, municipalities outsource their financial management, and even then, the results are flawed—leading to the Auditor-General issuing disclaimers,” he explained.
He called on all political parties to ensure that their candidates for municipal councils were competent, skilled, and committed to service delivery.
“Even though we will compete with them vigorously, I am calling on all political parties to deploy people who are capable, well-skilled, and knowledgeable about local government and the issues our people are facing,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa also turned his attention to provincial and municipal underspending, criticising departments that returned funds to the National Treasury instead of using them for service delivery.
“Quite often, we find that funds are returned to the national fiscus without being spent. This is a treason against our people because they expect that when Parliament adopts a budget, that money will be spent,” he charged.
His remarks follow widespread criticism earlier this year when the Gauteng provincial government underspent its budget by R1.8 billion in the last financial year.
The ANC president acknowledged that the failures of local government were not just a service delivery crisis but also posed an existential political threat to the party.
“Local government failures feed into a narrative about a failing and declining ANC and thus provide further ammunition for our detractors,” he warned.
The NEC meeting is taking place against a backdrop of increasingly volatile protests over water shortages, electricity blackouts, and deteriorating infrastructure in several municipalities.
Ramaphosa said these failures were feeding into public anger, which could have dire electoral consequences if not urgently addressed.
He confirmed that the ANC has drafted a comprehensive Action Plan to strengthen local government, which will be tabled for adoption at the NEC.
The plan is expected to consolidate existing strategies while introducing stricter oversight, monthly reporting requirements for councillors, and a sharper focus on service delivery outcomes.
“The focus of the plan is to strengthen local government. Once adopted, it will be shared with our deployees, setting out clear, measurable tasks both in government and the ANC,” Ramaphosa said.
The NEC meeting will culminate in a mass “Roll Call” at the FNB Stadium on Monday, where more than 6,000 ANC councillors and mayors will be required to account to the party on the progress made since the 2021 local elections.
Ramaphosa concluded his address by reaffirming that the ANC needed to get into “top gear” to meet the expectations of ordinary South Africans.
With the ANC’s credibility on the line, Ramaphosa’s rallying cry signalled that the battle against corruption at the municipal level will be a defining test for the party in the run-up to the 2026 local government elections.
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