The ANC, whose electoral support has dwindled over the years, has declared 2026 a year of decisive action to fix local government and transform the economy, with the government of national unity (GNU) having set aside R54bn for service delivery.
This is as the country is set to hold much-anticipated municipal elections later this year, in which opposition parties expect the former liberation movement to perform poorly.
Delivering the ANC’s January 8 statement to party faithful at Moruleng Stadium, North West, on Saturday, party leader President Cyril Ramaphosa said to advance the ANC government and South Africa, the organisation had identified six tasks for the year.
These included fixing local government and improving basic services; speeding up economic transformation, inclusive growth and job creation; and waging war on crime and corruption, and gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
The beleaguered local government sector is dogged by malfeasance and fiscal challenges in which billions of rand have been wasted on fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure annually, affecting delivery of basic services such as potable water, electricity, clinics and refuse collection.
“Over the next three years, the national government will invest R54bn to repair water and electricity infrastructure in Buffalo City, Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Joburg, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane,” Ramaphosa said.
“Municipalities must also increase funding for infrastructure maintenance and strengthen administrative capacity. They must build in-house capacity, especially functional yellow fleets and skilled personnel, to fix water leaks, potholes and power outages, and to deliver basic cleaning and greening services.”
Municipalities must also increase funding for infrastructure maintenance and strengthen administrative capacity.
— Cyril Ramaphosa, ANC president
The president said municipal administration should be ethical and capable, with professional management “insulated from undue political interference and capture”.
“We also call on municipal administrations to strengthen financial management so that scarce resources are used first and foremost to provide services and develop our towns and communities.”
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa has criticised what he described as an “increasing vocal minority” in South Africa that had thrown in its lot with those propagating falsehoods against the country.
Solidarity and AfriForum have openly spoken out against South Africa’s foreign policy and what they describe as the country’s race laws, while the discredited “white genocide” narrative has been parroted by US President Donald Trump.
“Their aim is to undermine South Africa’s constitutional democracy, non-racialism, non-sexism and the transformation project. They employ multifaceted tactics, including the propagation of blatant falsehoods such as claims of ‘white genocide’ to attract sympathy and solidarity from global racist movements and individuals,” Ramaphosa said.
“On the one hand, they form and fund political parties designed to fragment the motive forces of change. On the other hand, they sow the seeds of regime change, establish parallel state structures and foment secessionist tendencies.
“Reversing the gains of democracy by any means has become an increasingly open objective of domestic antitransformation forces and their global allies.”
Ramaphosa noted that worldwide the values of democracy, equality, equity, inclusion, human solidarity, gender equality and social justice were under attack.
“This attack seeks to delegitimise any government that aims to address inequalities, whether between nations, communities, genders, races and individuals. It seeks to undermine the existing rule-based order in the world and return human civilisation to an era of might, privilege and subjugation,” he said.
“The vast majority of South Africans, and indeed of global humanity, embrace these values of freedom, equality, non-racialism, non-sexism and human solidarity.”
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