Pretoria – Senior ANC leaders reacted sharply to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s admission that DA municipalities often outperform ANC ones, according to a report
Some reportedly told the Sunday Times that his comments were a political blunder and even suggested he should resign ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
Leaders criticised him for publicly praising a political opponent and questioned why he would lead a party he appeared to believe was underperforming.
“You ask yourself why he [would] want to be the president of a party he does not believe in. If he thinks the DA is outperforming the ANC, maybe he should step down. It’s a political blunder we may not be able to survive,” the report quoted a minister as saying.
The controversy has also reignited debates within the ANC about retirement age and generational renewal in politics, with younger members supporting the idea of older leaders preparing to step aside.
Ramaphosa recently said that some of the country’s best-run municipalities were under DA control, singling out Cape Town and Stellenbosch as examples.
He encouraged ANC councillors to learn from these municipalities
“I can name it here because there’s nothing wrong with competition. They are often DA-controlled municipalities.
“We need to ask ourselves, what is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing?,” Ramaphosa said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted that DA-run municipalities often perform better than ANC-led ones, urging the ANC to learn from the DA. pic.twitter.com/YzyobeJEyD
— MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) September 15, 2025
“And there’s nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing. We want to go and see what Stellenbosch is doing.”
He continued: “We cannot forever stay at the bottom.”
“It hurts me deeply when I continue to see that our municipalities sometimes tend to move even backwards. And you are the people who can improve that. The audit outcomes are important.”
Cosatu first deputy president Mike Shingange told Newzroom Afrika that comparing DA-run municipalities with ANC-run ones is unfair.
[WATCH] Cosatu first deputy president Mike Shingange says the comparison of ANC-run councils in reference to the DA could have been handled better.#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/0wsZ7T6Lrt
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) September 16, 2025
“The DA, unlike the ANC, is servicing the minority population of this country. Its mandate is not to improve and develop Khayelitsha and all the municipalities surrounding the City of Cape Town. It’s unfair to compare Tzaneen municipality or Soweto with DA-run municipalities,” he said.
Cosatu also called for ANC councillors to be held accountable for poor service delivery and financial management in municipalities under their control.
“Because the majority of councils are led by the ANC, so too are the majority of dysfunctional municipalities. The ANC is correct to hold its councillors accountable and demand they pull up their socks and turn things around,” the federation said.
It cited reports from the Auditor-General, National Treasury, and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs showing non-payment of municipal workers, collapsing services, and corruption in several municipalities.
According to The Citizen, the South African Communist Party (SACP) echoed concerns about Ramaphosa’s comments, describing the wholesale praise of the DA as “problematic” while cautioning against assuming all ANC councillors are failing.
“The record of the DA in governance must be viewed with a more discerning eye, just as the record of the ANC deserves criticism,” SACP spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana said.
He attributed the municipal crisis to corruption and a weakened state, affecting service delivery.
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