'Capable cadres' talk

In a tacit admission that cadre deployment was compromising service delivery and costing the party votes, the ANC has pledged to review the deployment policy.

But the review of the controversial policy - which the ANC maintains is unexceptional internationally - will not be as far-reaching as critics might hope .

The ANC national executive committee met at the weekend and decided that competence should take precedence over political and factional interests when ANC members are appointed to key positions in local authorities.

Of particular concern to the ANC, it would seem, are the metros in which the party lost support: Nelson Mandela Bay, in Eastern Cape, and Tshwane, in Gauteng, where the party's share of the vote dipped below 50% in last month's general election.

These metros could come under DA rule in the 2016 local government elections.

Said Mantashe: "We agreed that appointments to key positions in the municipalities must be based on competence and that the tendency to interfere in the appointment processes by political structures in some areas should be eliminated."

Intelligence-gathering agency Municipal IQ recorded 112 service delivery protests across South Africa from January to August 31 last year .

Gauteng had the most protests (24%), followed by Eastern Cape (21%) and KwaZulu-Natal (14%).

In an attempt to curb service delivery protest, senior ANC leaders have agreed, in principle at least, to deploy the party's most experienced cadres to work on rehabilitating under-performing municipalities.

According to the Service Delivery Protest Barometer, published by the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape, the number of service delivery protests doubled between 2007 and 2012.

In January, the ANC announced that it was considering revising the dysfunctional local government system.

The strategy was to send its most experienced members to the most mismanaged municipalities.

The party said at the time: "The [national executive committed has] agreed with the principle of the deployment of former ministers, deputy [ministers], MPs, premiers, MECs, MPLs - and even former presidents and their deputies - to strengthen local government."