The ANC is concerned that most of negative and wrong perceptions against municipalities led by its deployees are sponsored by what it terms “organised anti-ANC narratives”.
This is contained in the party’s “Action Plan” document, which we have seen, adopted by last weekend’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
The claim is, however, in direct contrast to now infamous statement made by ANC’s own President Cyril Ramaphosa and national chairperson Gwede Mantashe.
Publicly embarrassed ANC councillors
The two, on Monday during the so-called rollcall where 4, 800 councillors deployed by the ANC convened in Johannesburg, embarrassed ANC councillors publicly in what looked like a humiliation ritual.
Ramaphosa praised well-run municipalities as “often those” under DA control. Mantashe proclaimed that all ANC councillors know is singing while they lack capacity to do their work.
However, the party document adopted at the weekend says the opposite. It blames perceptions that it claims are not in sync with reality.
The document in fact claims the ANC has significantly improved the number of stable municipalities.
Action plan defends councillors
Under the subhead “Context and Problem Statement”, the Action Plan reads: “The number of stable municipalities has increased. And municipalities that are dysfunctional, in distress, and at risk have declined. However, this has not always translated into tangible service delivery improvements.
“Poor public perceptions and negative narratives are further fuelled by organised anti-ANC narratives.”
The ANC, as things stand, is all over mainstream media putting out the fires started by Ramaphosa’s remarks, which are contradictory to the internal views of the collective.
In the same document, the ANC also bemoans a “decline in public trust, a drop in voter participation, poor electoral outcomes for the ANC” among other battles confronting the former liberation movement.
Puts blame on national government
The document does not go anywhere near comparing the ANC councillors to those of any other party.
If anything, the document says failures at local government also reflect inefficiencies in the provincial and national government spheres.
“Suboptimal service delivery emanates from all spheres of government — national, provincial, and local — pointing to the need for an integrated approach, particularly in addressing complex problems,” reads the document.
The NEC identified at least nine “key challenges” plaguing the local government sphere broadly:
• Inadequate delivery of basic services including water, sanitation, electricity, roads. And poor responsiveness to service delivery challenges
• Deterioration of basic service infrastructure
• Poor urban management, rural development and disaster management
• Weak governance and oversight systems
• Systemic corruption and mismanagement
• Insufficient and poorly maintained infrastructure
• Weak institutional capacity, including human capacity and technical skills
• Inadequate resources and financial viability exacerbated by poor financial management and supply chain management
• Instability and poor political-administrative interface
