President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday introduced the governing party’s almost 10,000 candidates for the upcoming local government elections, mandating them to fix municipal finances, and provide basic services to communities if they win.
In his keynote address at a party function in Alberton, the ANC president said the candidates have pledged to serve their communities with honesty and dedication and end the scourges of corruption, fraud and patronage.
The function was aimed at introducing the 9,405 candidates the party will field nationally to contest the municipal elections. Other provincial roll-call events were connected to the Alberton Civic Centre virtually.
This comes as angry members have challenged the party’s candidate selection process, which was marred by disputes, allegations of vote rigging, manipulation and violence at branch level that included shootings and killings.
Though the ANC plans to resolve the long-standing disputes after the elections, the party hauled disgruntled branches to a meeting last week to iron out alleged list manipulation in a bid to avoid losing further electoral support among its members.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa gave the ANC candidates their marching orders, saying they will work to fix municipal finances, improve billing and revenue collection and ensure that service providers are paid on time and that council budgets are spent wisely.
“We have sought to involve ordinary community members in our candidate selection process, so that our candidates understand that their first responsibility is to the people they represent,” the president said.
Proper housing
Ramaphosa said the candidates have pledged to not rest until all the people have proper housing, clean water and reliable electricity. The provision of these services have become big election issues, with opposition political parties using them to expose the ANC’s poor track record in rolling them out.
He said the party’s candidates will not stand by as roads fall into disrepair or raw sewage flows in the street. “They will make sure that street lights work and that there are places in every community where children can play in safety”.
“Every city and every town must be a place where businesses can thrive and where investors can be confident that they will achieve sustainable returns,” said Ramaphosa.
He admitted that the ANC has not lived up to the people’s expectations, saying the party is aware of areas where services have not been delivered, where corruption and mismanagement have taken hold, and where infrastructure has not been properly maintained.
Demonstrable progress
“We know that there are councillors who have not listened to the concerns of people, have not explained the problems, have not offered solutions — councillors who have grown distant and who have appeared unconcerned. This is what we are determined to end,” said Ramaphosa.
He said the ANC has made “demonstrable progress” since the national elections in 2019, adding that the governing party has confronted corruption and state capture, rebuilt public institutions, revitalised state-owned enterprises, and driven far-reaching reforms.
“We have demonstrated that we will not stand for wrongdoing, no matter who is involved. We will not protect any ANC leader, public representative or member who faces allegations of corruption or other serious offences. The law must take its course and justice must be done.”
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