In a remarkable moment that straddled the line between humility and desperation, President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on ANC councillors to learn from their political rivals, the Democratic Alliance. Speaking at FNB Stadium to an audience of 6,000 councillors—summoned to discuss the most basic of governance duties, service delivery—Ramaphosa admitted that the ANC consistently finds itself at the bottom of the Auditor-General’s reports.
“It hurts me deeply,” he said, as if the crisis were a fresh revelation rather than a decades-long reality under ANC leadership. He cited DA-run municipalities such as Cape Town and Stellenbosch as models worth examining: “What is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing?” The irony was palpable—like a student who has failed every exam suddenly asking the top achiever for their notes on the eve of finals.
Adding to the candour of the day, ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe bluntly told councillors they were “good at singing” but lacked the capacity to perform their core duties. It was an unusually honest assessment that laid bare a party more focused on spectacle than substance.
This gathering was not the unveiling of a bold new strategy, but rather a public acknowledgment of stagnation. The ruling party, once synonymous with liberation, now finds itself looking to the opposition for guidance—an admission of fatigue and failure with local elections looming.
Whether this moment signals genuine introspection or yet another round of empty rhetoric remains to be seen.
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