Pundits have noted that the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s 2026 local government manifesto carries a glaring omission. Corruption – the party’s favourite political weapon for years – has retreated from the front page to the fine print.
The DA still mentions clean government and accountability, but the organising language now runs on competence, professional administration and reliable services.
This shift marks a strategic victory so complete that the opposition has run out of enemies to prosecute.
For years, the DA hammered one message home: African National Congress (ANC) governance produces corruption, and corruption produces municipal collapse. The argument never rested on a few rogue individuals. It targeted a system. Cadre deployment, politically connected appointments, weak accountability – these were the engines of failure.
The DA promised the opposite. Professional administration instead of political interference. Clean government instead of looting. The corruption charge always carried a deeper meaning about competence.
The DA argued that the ANC’s model of governing breaks institutions, not just its morals.
Inside the ANC, the response was once defiant. Former President Jacob Zuma’s defence remained simple and politically convenient. The ANC remains clean. Individuals inside the ANC can be corrupt.
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The distinction mattered because the ANC carries a history beyond party politics. It stands as a liberation movement. Its moral authority rests on its historical record, not its present performance.
Corrupt individuals had betrayed the movement. It was an aberration. The movement itself retained its integrity. This shield protected the ANC brand through years of state capture.
Then President Cyril Ramaphosa walked in and threw that shield into the fire. When he declared the ANC “Accused No. 1” on corruption in 2020, he did something his predecessor never dared.
He moved responsibility from individuals to the organisation. The argument became inescapable. The ANC deployed public representatives. The ANC-controlled government. The ANC benefited from state power. The organisation must answer for the conduct of its own deployees.
This represented a fundamental break from Zuma’s defence. Zuma protected the brand. Ramaphosa accepted institutional guilt.
The moral logic may have been sound. But the political consequences proved devastating. Once the ANC accepted organisational responsibility, it handed the DA the very argument it had been fighting to make.
The opposition no longer needed to prove that corruption was systemic. The ANC president had already conceded it. The question for voters shifted from whether the ANC was corrupt to whether the ANC could fix a problem it had admitted to creating. That question carries far greater danger for a governing party.
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The electoral numbers tell the story. The ANC’s support has fallen like a stone. From 69.69% in 2004 to 65.9% in 2009, 62.15% in 2014, 57.5% in 2019, and finally 40.18% in 2024. The 2021 local elections delivered the warning shot – the ANC dipped below 50% nationally.
The 2024 general election confirmed the realignment. The party lost its majority and crawled into a Government of National Unity. The voter verdict carried brutal clarity. Historical legitimacy no longer outweighs governance failure.
Ramaphosa’s reform project accepted the DA’s diagnosis. This acceptance may have been necessary to save the organisation from itself. Yet it created a political trap. The ANC became the party explaining why it needs to fix itself.
The DA no longer needed to carry the corruption megaphone. The ANC had already picked it up and was blowing it like a vuvuzela, targeting its own leaders.
This explains the DA’s shift in 2026. The prosecution phase has concluded. The party has won the argument that corruption damaged the ANC. Now it must answer a different question. Can it govern better?
The manifesto’s emphasis on competence and performance signals a recognition that voters have moved on. They already know the ANC has a corruption problem. They want to know who can fix the roads, keep the lights on and make municipalities work.
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The irony carries a sharp edge. Ramaphosa would have thought that some degree of honesty may have been necessary for internal renewal, but it confirmed the opposition’s central indictment. The party that once defined itself as the solution now asks voters to trust it to repair the damage it caused. Any government would struggle with that position, let alone one that has ruled for three decades.
The DA has won the corruption argument. The ANC has absorbed the accusation. After admitting responsibility for the damage, why should anyone trust it with the repair?
That terrain now defines the 2026 municipal elections.
- The Democratic Alliance's 2026 local government manifesto shifts focus from corruption accusations to competence, professional administration, and reliable services.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the ANC "Accused No. 1" on corruption in 2020, shifting blame from individuals to the organisation itself.
- The ANC's electoral support has declined from 69.69% in 2004 to 40.18% in 2024, with the party losing its majority and entering a Government of National Unity.
- The DA has ceased focusing on corruption in its campaign, emphasizing governance and service delivery since voters acknowledge the ANC's corruption problem.
- The key question for voters in the upcoming 2026 municipal elections is whether the ANC, having admitted institutional guilt, can effectively govern and repair the damage.
