Media Statement

The African National Congress today presents the local government interventions component of its review of the 2021 Local Government Elections Manifesto. This forms part of a wider assessment of commitments made under the theme, “Building Better Communities Together: A People’s Plan for a Better Life for All.” We approach this review with a simple obligation. To tell South Africans what has been done, what has improved, what has not worked at the required scale, and the corrective measurers pursued.

The review is an exercise in responsible leadership and democratic accountability. It begins with a record of changing the material conditions of millions of South Africans through expanded access to electricity, water, sanitation, housing and secure tenure. It also listens carefully to communities where the reliability and quality of services do not yet reflect the full promise of developmental local government. The ANC believes that confidence is strengthened when progress is recognised, challenges are honestly explained and practical measures are put in place to sustain improvement.

The 2021 Manifesto committed the ANC to improving municipal functionality and financial viability; deploying skilled leadership and capable management; strengthening community participation; maintaining and expanding infrastructure; improving oversight and accountability; and acting against corruption, tender-rigging, nepotism and maladministration. These were not peripheral undertakings.

They went to the heart of whether democratic local government could translate national transformation into reliable services, dignified settlements and functioning local economies.

The ANC has implemented significant parts of the programme entrusted to it, even as municipalities operate under pressure from rapid urbanisation, population growth, constrained revenues, ageing infrastructure and rising service demand. Where progress has been slower than intended, the ANC is applying lessons from implementation to strengthen delivery. This is the purpose of accountability, not to diminish what has been achieved, but to protect those gains and improve the pace, quality and reliability of future delivery.The review confirms substantial expansion in basic services and human settlements during the democratic era. It also identifies areas where reliability, maintenance, financial governance and institutional capability require further attention. Importantly, it records encouraging municipal turnarounds, where focused political leadership, professional administration, stronger revenue management and community partnership have produced measurable results. These examples provide a practical foundation for extending improvements across the local-government system.

THE 2021 MANDATE AND A RECORD OF CONTINUED DELIVERY

The ANC’s 2021 Manifesto promised: “We will do better to serve our people in every municipality, deliver better services and build thriving communities.” That promise recognised that local government is where the democratic state’s legitimacy is tested most directly. People encounter the municipality through water, sanitation, electricity, roads, refuse removal, public spaces, planning approvals, rates accounts and the conduct of councillors and officials. A municipality may have an adopted plan and a balanced budget, but if services are unreliable and residents are unheard, government is not fulfilling its constitutional purpose.

The Manifesto also recognised that municipalities do not operate in isolation. Delivery requires

municipalities to work with national and provincial government, communities, civil society and business.

The constitutional system is interdependent: bulk water, housing grants, electricity supply, transport

investment, land release and fiscal transfers require coordination across the three spheres. The District

Development Model and the One Plan approach were intended to improve this alignment. Progress has

been made in establishing common planning platforms, but the review is clear that coordination must be

measured by planning, allocation of resources completed projects and improved services, not by the

number of meetings held.

The ANC’s policy approach since 1994 has combined public investment in new infrastructure, particularly

in historically underserved communities, with responsibility for operating and maintaining services

sustainably. Because poverty and unemployment prevent many households from paying the full cost of

services, the ANC introduced a minimum basket of Free Basic Services covering water, electricity,

sanitation and refuse removal. That intervention remains an essential expression of the developmental

state and social solidarity. Yet it can only endure if indigent registers are accurate, equitable share funding

reaches its intended purpose, municipalities collect revenue from those able to pay, and losses, illegal

connections and billing failures are addressed.

Over the democratic period, access has expanded on a scale that must not be forgotten. Official statistics

show that access to

• electricity rose from 76.7% of households in 2002 to above 90% by 2025.

• Access to improved sanitation rose from 61.7% in 2002 to about 84% in 2025.

• The proportion of households living in formal dwellings rose from 65.1% in 1996 to more than 84%

by 2025.

These changes represent millions of lives improved through public investment, subsidised housing and

the extension of municipal networks.The review also documents uneven performance across parts of the system during the 2021–2026 term.

Population growth, urbanisation and migration have increased demand, while ageing infrastructure and

constrained municipal finances have put pressure on maintenance and expansion.

In some municipalities, instability, weak contract management and governance deficiencies have

compounded these structural pressures. The ANC’s response is to build on historical progress while

improving current performance, as each democratic gain creates a responsibility to sustain and deepen

it. The next Manifesto will therefore be more focused in its commitments, clearer in its measurable

outcomes and stronger in its implementation oversight. Each commitment will be linked to a responsible

sphere, a funding route, delivery milestones and a public mechanism for reporting progress. This will make

the contract with communities more credible and enable successful interventions to be replicated more

rapidly.

INTERVENTION AND TURNAROUND: STRENGTHENING SUPPORT AND ACCELERATING RECOVERY

Section 139 of the Constitution provides an indispensable safeguard when a municipality is unable to fulfil

an executive obligation. In 2025, 39 municipalities were receiving some form of Section 139 intervention,

including four subject to national intervention under section 139(7), of these are at various level of

progress. Experience across these municipalities has yielded important lessons on how support can be

activated earlier, recovery plans strengthened, and improvements sustained beyond the formal

intervention period.

The Intergovernmental Monitoring, Support and Interventions Bill which was recently introduced to

parliament in 2025 aims to establish clearer criteria, procedures and timelines. This reform must also

strengthen preventive support under section 154 of the Constitution, ensuring municipalities receive

targeted assistance before failure necessitates administration.Support must be differentiated: a

municipality with a technical capacity gap requires a different intervention from one captured by

corruption or paralysed by political conflict.

Evidence of turnaround shows what can be achieved.

• Bela-Bela achieved the first clean audit in its history.

• Mamusa moved from seven consecutive disclaimers to an unqualified audit under intervention,

while improving revenue collection and Municipal Infrastructure Grant expenditure.

• Mbombela sustained consecutive unqualified outcomes.

• Enoch Mgijima fully utilised its infrastructure grant allocation in 2024/25, installed thousands of

smart meters and recorded a positive revenue impact.

• The Mnquma and Senqu Local Municipalities continue their positive governance and service

delivery trajectory, underpinning the governance and audit improvements unfolding in the Eastern

Cape, which saw eight municipalities achieve clean audits.

• The improvements trend in local clean and unqualified audits extents to other provinces, a case in

point is the Umhlathuze municipality which not only achieved a clean audit, coupled with

improved service delivery.• In Limpopo the Capricorn and Waterberg district councils continued with their track records of

sustained good governance and audit outcomes.

A concerted effort to stabilise and improve metropolitan performance is evidenced by the positive results

and outcomes achieved in Ethekwini as part of the Presidential Working Group, including the 2025

tourism spend being the highest on record, a 93% cumulative revenue collection rate and all its beaches

now being operational. A basket of governance, financial and service delivery improvement measures has

been introduced in Buffalo City, and reductions in UIF non-payment and non-revenue water are being

evidenced. The city of Johannesburg, as a strategic economic center continues to receive dedicated

attention.

These improvements demonstrate that recovery is possible and that the ANC’s interventions are yielding

valuable lessons for the wider system. The objective is to translate these results into a common

institutional model underpinned by stable political leadership, competent management, adequately

funded budgets, protected revenue, credible data, maintained infrastructure and transparent

engagement with communities.

Across water, sanitation, waste management, human settlements and land administration, the review

confirms that the democratic state has made substantial and enduring progress while identifying areas in

which reliability, maintenance and implementation must improve.

These achievements have expanded dignity, security of tenure and access to essential services, but

growing demand, ageing infrastructure, water losses, service interruptions, wastewater failures,

inconsistent refuse collection, informal-settlement growth and the continuing housing backlog require

more focused action.

The ANC notes that the government is strengthening the Blue Drop, No Drop and Green Drop oversight

systems; prioritising the rehabilitation and maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructure;

improving municipal waste-management capacity; accelerating informal-settlement upgrading, title-deed

restoration and the release of well-located land; and aligning spatial plans with funded infrastructure

programmes.

The ANC’s next phase will build on the progress already achieved by placing reliable services, preventive

maintenance, professional municipal capacity, integrated human settlements and transparent

community-level accountability at the centre of implementation, ensuring that expanded access is

matched by consistent quality and that every intervention produces a visible improvement in the daily

lives of communities.

GOVERNANCE AND CLEAN ADMINISTRATION: BUILDING ON PROGRESS, DEEPENING ACCOUNTABILITY

The 2021 Manifesto set out clear commitments to honest and competent leadership, professional

administration, open communication, community partnership, and decisive action against corruption and

nepotism. On these commitments, the review demands the greatest candour. The Auditor-General as a

credible performance assessment body for local government, continues to give transparent feedback onthe overall performance of the system, on the basis of which we commit to action to ensure

improvements in the system.

The Auditor-General’s recommendations indicate where political and administrative leadership must

intensify its efforts. The reduction in disclaimers and the improvement in financial-statement submissions

demonstrate that intervention can restore core disciplines. The next step is to reduce dependence on

consultants by strengthening municipal finance units, records management and the accountability of

municipal managers and councils. The ANC’s renewal programme reinforces competence, integrity and

performance as essential requirements for public responsibility.

The Municipal Staff Regulations introduced uniform standards for recruitment, appointment,

performance management and discipline. Their purpose includes preventing the movement of officials

dismissed for misconduct from one municipality to another. Professional leadership development,

stronger appointment rules and consideration of a statutory professional mechanism for municipal

managers are important reforms. Their value will be measured by the quality and stability of

appointments, not by the mere existence of regulations.

We also recognise that in addition to clean audits, review of performance must also focus on service

delivery and spatial transformation. A municipality may produce compliant statements yet still fail to

maintain roads or collect refuse or entrench spatial inequalities. Financial governance and service

performance and transformation must therefore be considered together. The real objective is an ethical

municipality that plans honestly, spends lawfully, maintains its assets, collects revenue fairly and delivers

services reliably.

The ANC’s position on wrongdoing is principled and consistent: corruption has no place in an

administration entrusted with improving the lives of communities. Renewal in local government is

becoming evident through stronger appointment standards, improved financial discipline, action on

irregularities, and a sharper focus on residents’ lived experience. This work must continue with resolve.

STRENGTHENING THE TRANSFORMATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT THROUGH WHITE PAPER REVIEW

The Manifesto review confirms substantial progress and that the foundations for further improvement are firmly in place. Democratic government has expanded the social and physical infrastructure available to millions of households. The review also identifies where maintenance, governance, financial sustainability and institutional capability must be strengthened so that the benefits of this transformation are experienced more consistently across all communities.

The comprehensive policy proposals to reform local government governance, institutional, financial and service delivery systems, as contained in the 2026 White Paper on Local Government, due for approval and publication in September 2026 addresses the systemic challenges that affect local government, after the first thirty years.

It aligns with the ANC review focused on restoring the law and enforcing accountability, one local government system with differentiated powers and functions, professional administration, rebuildingcommunity relationships, including a structured role of Traditional and Khoisan Leadership based on an agreed compact, the reset of finance and service provision and spatial transformation, growth and resilience.

The ANC believes that credibility is strengthened by a record of delivery, an honest assessment of evidence, and the capacity to improve. We will enter the 2026 Local Government Elections with a record of real advances and a disciplined programme to consolidate them. Where implementation has been uneven, we will demonstrate how the lessons of the current term are already shaping a more focused and effective programme for the next term.

We call on ANC structures, incoming councillors and public representatives to treat this review as a living mandate for renewal and implementation. Lessons identified must be incorporated into action programmes, examples of turnaround must be studied and adapted, and integrity and performance standards must be applied consistently. In this way, the movement will translate reflection into visible improvement and strengthen the effectiveness of the democratic state.

To the people of South Africa, our undertaking is clear. The ANC will account honestly, implement purposefully and improve continuously. We will defend the progress achieved, measure the work still underway, report openly on implementation and act where additional support or correction is required.

This is responsible leadership in practice. It is the basis on which we will build better communities together and deepen confidence in democratic local government.

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