ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe has criticised the party’s councillors in municipalities, saying they lack “capacity”.
Mantashe was speaking in Soweto at an ANC roll call meeting of all the party’s councillors on Monday.
He reprimanded the councillors for being disruptive during the meeting.
“I know that there is a lot of singing, concillors, but there are no councils. You all sing well, but capacity dololo.
“Comrades who are councillors, leaders of the ANC, who make noise when a meeting is underway, what kind of leadership is that? There is no such leadership comrades…
“Ideally, when a dome like this is full of councillors, we would be saying that is the biggest resource the ANC has, the resource that fills this dome is the resource of the ANC, that is what makes a difference between a collapsing ANC and a renewed ANC,” he said.
The roll call is meant to give the ANC leaders in municipalities marching orders on service delivery-related matters. It is also meant to prepare regions of the party for the upcoming local government elections.
Councillors ‘under attack’
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, in his welcome address at the gathering, said councillors and officials in municipalities are not safe.
“The message that I suspect that all councilors want to bring to the national executive committee (NEC) members of the ANC is one message, to be a councillor in this era is a difficult task.
“Comrade president, our councillors are not only under attack from communities, there are people that are hired, there are people that are resourced, there are people that are on a mission to kill councillors literally,” he said.
Lesufi said there is a need to protect councillors, public officials and whistleblowers who expose corruption in municipalities.
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ANC performance in Gauteng
Despite a decline in electoral support, Lesufi said the recent by-elections in Soweto proved that the ANC is still the preferred party in communities.
“Last week, we reclaimed a ward that belonged to the ANC as an affirmation that the ANC is on course in this province,” he said.
The ANC in Gauteng and its three big metros are in coalition arrangements with other parties.
Service delivery challenges
According to Lesufi, municipalities across the country face the same challenges in ensuring basic service delivery.
He identified some challenges that Gauteng is dealing with.
“High on the agenda… in all our municipalities, our challenges are as follows, water, aging infrastructure cable theft, portholes, mushrooming of informal settlements, lack of electricity, drug abuse, failing infrastructure. non-functional traffic lights, crime, GBVF, services in our schools and hospitals, but the biggest one, Mr President, is the high level of unemployment,” he said.
The ANC has more than 4 000 councillors nationwide, and provincial structures were asked to present a summary of the state of the ANC in their provinces.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is also expected to address the councillors before the conclusion of the meeting.
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