President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) that the local government elections later this year will be a litmus test of its determination to win elections, calling for the party to deploy capable leaders.
“As we bring this [ANC] lekgotla to a close, we know the people of South Africa want the ANC to move beyond pronouncements and plans. The people want action. They want to see progress and an improvement in their quality of life, which they know the ANC has a great task to institute. The people will judge us not so much by what we say but by the impact our programmes have on their daily lived experiences.”
The president emphasised the party requires leadership who are skilled, capable and dedicated.
“We need to have the wisdom and resolve to deploy the best among us to the areas of work that will have the greatest impact, whether that is to lead a municipality, build the organisation or build a united front for progressive change. This lekgotla has stated we cannot compromise on accountability. We cannot and must refuse to accept poor performance.”
Ramaphosa said the party can no longer tolerate “people who abuse the trust of the people and waste public resources”.
“We must have the courage to replace deployees who are not performing the tasks they are given. We must deploy cadres who can fulfil the responsibility of the position they occupy. We will implement mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation and accountability so our decisions in this regard are based on evidence and are not driven by factional or personal interests.”
Service delivery tops the list of considerations by voters when deciding the fate of the former governing party and whether it will be able to claw back support.
“They will ask whether the water flows in their taps. They will ask whether electricity is reliable. They will want to feel the streets and pathways they walk along are safe. They will want to know whether refuse is collected and whether municipalities are run honestly and with competence. The people will judge us by whether they have jobs, whether the economy works for most citizens or only a few.”
Ramaphosa said the function of the lekgotla was to acknowledge progress made over the past few years in a number of areas affecting the lives of citizens. The party has recognised the momentum of meaningful changes is gathering pace and momentum.
According to the president, “this can be seen in the renewal and rebuilding of our movement and in the recovery of our economy and transformation of our society”.
“This lekgotla has adopted a programme of action for 2026 that not only sustains this momentum but will accelerate the pace of change all South Africans want to see. The actions we have agreed on here must have an immediate and transformative impact on people’s lives.”
Ramaphosa said the first step would be to fix local government, improve financial management and reduce corruption and wastage.
By doing so, the administration will enable municipalities to respond more effectively to people’s needs.
“Our ability to do this will make our towns and villages attractive to investors. Through their investments we will create more jobs and provide skills to our people. Therefore, in this year of decisive action to fix local government and transform the economy, we will be unrelenting in delivering on our commitments, making sure we do what we say and address our people’s concerns.”
He hailed the participation of the NEC, provincial executive committees and league representatives in the commissions, saying it was encouraging that they were constituted as part of the lekgotla, focusing their attention and discussions on clear implementation plans with responsibilities, timeframes and targets.
“The organisation will use the markers to hold all public representatives and deployees accountable. This is not negotiable. This must be done. This lekgotla has been about getting things done. It has been about execution. It focused on the actions we will and must take this year to implement the priorities of the January 8 statement and the national general council decisions.”
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