The President’s Pain Is Our Reality
When President Cyril Ramaphosa says that DA-led municipalities like Cape Town and Stellenbosch “lead the pack” in Auditor-General reports, he is not celebrating them. He is exposing us. Those who insulted him online are not defending the ANC—they are embarrassing it. The President’s statement was a mirror. Instead of fixing their reflection, some councillors broke the mirror.
ANC renewal begins with honesty. Pretending that ANC-led municipalities are all performing well is childish. Pretending that pointing to DA success is betrayal is cowardice. Renewal is about facts, and facts are stubborn.
As Oliver Reginald Tambo wisely guided: “Be prepared to learn from other people’s revolutions. Learn from the enemy also. The enemy is not necessarily doing everything wrongly. You may take his right tactics and use them to your advantage. At the same time, avoid repeating the enemy’s mistakes.” (Oliver & Adelaide Tambo Foundation, 2017).
This is the ANC’s medge: acknowledging what works, discarding what fails, and building a future rooted in people-centred governance.
*Scenario One: Regression*
The Auditor-General’s reports over the past decade read like a tragic script:
• 2016/17: Only 45 municipalities with clean audits. Warning signs everywhere.
• 2018/19: Regression. Material irregularities growing. The AG says local government is “on the brink of collapse.”
• 2020/21: Hope flickers. Some municipalities stabilise. But metros stumble.
• 2022/23: Only 38 out of 257 municipalities achieved clean audits (14.8%). Worse, R5.19 billion in material irregularities was flagged across procurement, revenue and asset management.
Regression is the story of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Buffalo City, Mangaung. These metros are ANC’s flagship municipalities, yet their audits are red flags. When metros fail, they pull down the reputation of the whole movement.
*Scenario Two: Excuses*
Too many councillors hide behind excuses:
• “The system is inherited.”
• “Coalitions paralyse us.”
• “Treasury regulations are too strict.”
• “Communities don’t pay rates.”
Excuses do not fill potholes. Excuses do not deliver water. Excuses do not produce clean audits. Excuses are the political drug of the lazy.
Scenario Three: Ranting Instead of Working
Instead of leading municipal audit committees, councillors lead Twitter spaces. Instead of interrogating SCM contracts, they interrogate comrades on Facebook. Instead of tabling credible Integrated Development Plans, they table insults against the President.
This behaviour is infantile. Councillors who think governance is a spectator sport must be recalled. The ANC cannot carry spoiled children who mistake self-importance for leadership.
*Scenario Four: The Shining Stars*
Yet the story is not all doom. Certain ANC municipalities prove that clean governance is possible:
• Senqu Municipality (Eastern Cape): A consistent clean audit performer in one of the country’s poorest provinces.
• Ehlanzeni District (Mpumalanga): Stable financial management in a volatile environment.
• King Cetshwayo District (KZN): Improving year after year with stronger internal controls.
• Umhlathuze (KZN): Professionalised administration, showing balance between growth and governance.
• uMzimvubu (Eastern Cape): Commended for compliance with the MFMA and steady service delivery alignment.
These shining stars prove that the ANC does not lack capacity, it lacks consistency. Where discipline and technical competence are enforced, ANC municipalities outperform stereotypes. The challenge is to multiply these stars, not to excuse the darkness.
*Scenario Five: SALGA the Sleeping Giant*
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) was meant to be the collective strength of municipalities. Yet for too long, SALGA has been a conference platform, not a crisis response unit.
If SALGA is to matter, it must:
• Crack the whip, not crack jokes: Publicly name failing municipalities, instead of hiding them in glossy reports.
• Replicate excellence: Study Senqu, Ehlanzeni, Umhlathuze and transplant their practices elsewhere.
• Deploy skills, not slogans: Send engineers, accountants and planners into failing council, not just policy papers.
• Tie membership to performance: Why should failing municipalities keep SALGA status without consequences?
• Back communities: Where councillors repeatedly fail, SALGA must support recalls, not shield incompetence.
*If SALGA remains timid, it is part of the collapse.*
*Scenario Six: Renewal in Practice*
The ANC gathering at FNB Stadium was more than a rally, it was a declaration that councillors must be reminded that their seats are not thrones. Renewal means:
• Councillors measured by audit outcomes, not branch popularity.
• Councillors trained in the MFMA, not just in struggle songs.
• Councillors who publish corrective plans, not excuses.
• Councillors who deliver water, refuse collection, and roads, not hashtags.
This is the ANC message of the moment: renewal is not theoretical, it is practical. It is measured in taps running, lights staying on, and waste being collected.
*Conclusion: Every Excuse Exposed, Every Path Clear*
Regression, excuses, ranting, failure of SALGA, every scenario explains why the ANC hurts today. But shining stars prove renewal is possible.
The President told the truth. Those who cry betrayal are afraid of mirrors. But the people of South Africa do not want mirrors, they want service. They want accountability. They want action.
It is time for the ANC to whip its councillors into governance, for SALGA to wake up, and for every municipality to choose renewal over regression.
As OR Tambo taught: _*“Learn from the enemy also. The enemy is not necessarily doing everything wrongly. You may take his right *The President’s Pain Is Our Reality*
When President Cyril Ramaphosa says that DA-led municipalities like Cape Town and Stellenbosch “lead the pack” in Auditor-General reports, he is not celebrating them. He is exposing us. Those who insulted him online are not defending the ANC—they are embarrassing it. The President’s statement was a mirror. Instead of fixing their reflection, some councillors broke the mirror.
ANC renewal begins with honesty. Pretending that ANC-led municipalities are all performing well is childish. Pretending that pointing to DA success is betrayal is cowardice. Renewal is about facts, and facts are stubborn.
As Oliver Reginald Tambo wisely guided: “Be prepared to learn from other people’s revolutions. Learn from the enemy also. The enemy is not necessarily doing everything wrongly. You may take his right tactics and use them to your advantage. At the same time, avoid repeating the enemy’s mistakes.” (Oliver & Adelaide Tambo Foundation, 2017).
This is the ANC’s medge: acknowledging what works, discarding what fails, and building a future rooted in people-centred governance.
*Scenario One: Regression*
The Auditor-General’s reports over the past decade read like a tragic script:
• 2016/17: Only 45 municipalities with clean audits. Warning signs everywhere.
• 2018/19: Regression. Material irregularities growing. The AG says local government is “on the brink of collapse.”
• 2020/21: Hope flickers. Some municipalities stabilise. But metros stumble.
• 2022/23: Only 38 out of 257 municipalities achieved clean audits (14.8%). Worse, R5.19 billion in material irregularities was flagged across procurement, revenue and asset management.
Regression is the story of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Buffalo City, Mangaung. These metros are ANC’s flagship municipalities, yet their audits are red flags. When metros fail, they pull down the reputation of the whole movement.
*Scenario Two: Excuses*
Too many councillors hide behind excuses:
• “The system is inherited.”
• “Coalitions paralyse us.”
• “Treasury regulations are too strict.”
• “Communities don’t pay rates.”
Excuses do not fill potholes. Excuses do not deliver water. Excuses do not produce clean audits. Excuses are the political drug of the lazy.
Scenario Three: Ranting Instead of Working
Instead of leading municipal audit committees, councillors lead Twitter spaces. Instead of interrogating SCM contracts, they interrogate comrades on Facebook. Instead of tabling credible Integrated Development Plans, they table insults against the President. This behaviour is infantile. Councillors who think governance is a spectator sport must be recalled. The ANC cannot carry spoiled children who mistake self-importance for leadership.
*Scenario Four: The Shining Stars*
Yet the story is not all doom. Certain ANC municipalities prove that clean governance is possible:
• Senqu Municipality (Eastern Cape): A consistent clean audit performer in one of the country’s poorest provinces.
• Ehlanzeni District (Mpumalanga): Stable financial management in a volatile environment.
• King Cetshwayo District (KZN): Improving year after year with stronger internal controls.
• Umhlathuze (KZN): Professionalised administration, showing balance between growth and governance.
• uMzimvubu (Eastern Cape): Commended for compliance with the MFMA and steady service delivery alignment.
These shining stars prove that the ANC does not lack capacity, it lacks consistency. Where discipline and technical competence are enforced, ANC municipalities outperform stereotypes. The challenge is to multiply these stars, not to excuse the darkness.
*Scenario Five: SALGA the Sleeping Giant*
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) was meant to be the collective strength of municipalities. Yet for too long, SALGA has been a conference platform, not a crisis response unit.
If SALGA is to matter, it must:
• Crack the whip, not crack jokes: Publicly name failing municipalities, instead of hiding them in glossy reports.
• Replicate excellence: Study Senqu, Ehlanzeni, Umhlathuze and transplant their practices elsewhere.
• Deploy skills, not slogans: Send engineers, accountants and planners into failing council, not just policy papers.
• Tie membership to performance: Why should failing municipalities keep SALGA status without consequences?
• Back communities: Where councillors repeatedly fail, SALGA must support recalls, not shield incompetence.
*If SALGA remains timid, it is part of the collapse.*
*Scenario Six: Renewal in Practice*
The ANC gathering at FNB Stadium was more than a rally, it was a declaration that councillors must be reminded that their seats are not thrones. Renewal means:
• Councillors measured by audit outcomes, not branch popularity.
• Councillors trained in the MFMA, not just in struggle songs.
• Councillors who publish corrective plans, not excuses.
• Councillors who deliver water, refuse collection, and roads, not hashtags.
This is the ANC message of the moment: renewal is not theoretical, it is practical. It is measured in taps running, lights staying on, and waste being collected.
*Conclusion: Every Excuse Exposed, Every Path Clear*
Regression, excuses, ranting, failure of SALGA, every scenario explains why the ANC hurts today. But shining stars prove renewal is possible. The President told the truth. Those who cry betrayal are afraid of mirrors. But the people of South Africa do not want mirrors, they want service. They want accountability. They want action.
It is time for the ANC to whip its councillors into governance, for SALGA to wake up, and for every municipality to choose renewal over regression. As OR Tambo taught: _*“Learn from the enemy also. The enemy is not necessarily doing everything wrongly. You may take his right tactics and use them to your advantage. At the same time, avoid repeating the enemy’s mistakes.” _ That is not betrayal. That is revolution in practice.
Anything else is betrayal, not of Ramaphosa, but of the people and use them to your advantage. At the same time, avoid repeating the enemy’s mistakes.”_ That is not betrayal. That is revolution in practice. Anything else is betrayal, not of Ramaphosa, but of the people.
