Ramaphosa and ANC leaders issue stern warning to councillors on service delivery woes

President Cyril Ramaphosa, party veteran Frank Chikane, and Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula have issued a stern warning to misbehaving public officials in local government.

This comes as the party summoned more than 4,000 councillors and mayors to the ANC's roll-call meeting aimed at improving service delivery in ANC-led municipalities on Monday.

Ramaphosa, who launched an Action Plan to deal with service delivery challenges, told councillors to prioritise service delivery, adding that ANC councillors must learn from the DA, whose municipalities are better led and governed.

"I dare say, it is service delivery improvement for us, or death... Away with cooking the books. The cooking of the books must end today. We must get people who can draft the books properly and present an audit outcome that will be online, with what is expected," he stated.

Regarding DA-led municipalities, Ramaphosa said: "Municipalities that do well are not ANC municipalities. I can name it here. There is nothing wrong with competition. Municipalities that perform well are often DA municipalities.

"We need to ask ourselves. What is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing? There’s nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing, what Stellenbosch is doing, how they craft everything."

Chikane told the councillors at FNB Stadium to serve the people with integrity.

"Leaders and revolutionaries must have a solid foundation of revolutionary morality to fulfil the glorious revolutionary tasks. There was a paper prepared for revolutionary morality, which is not about morality as people think. Revolutionary morality is not about the priesthood. It is not about religion. It is about a particular principle. It is about serving people. If you are going to serve the people, you can’t steal from them. When you steal from the government, you’re stealing from the people," he said.

Meanwhile, ANC NEC member Dickson Masemola said it cannot be business as usual when the majority of ANC-led municipalities are found to be performing badly.

"Some of the worst performing municipalities in the country are found in the Free State and North West, places where the ANC enjoys overwhelming electoral support. The people of Free State and North West deserve better from the ANC,” he stated.

During a media briefing to wrap up the meeting, Mbalula revealed that the ANC has committed itself to regular progress reports to measure performance, adding that in the next 100 days, there would be comprehensive reporting to track progress.

"The NEC is directed to ensure that by the end of the next  100 days, visible progress must be registered in core service delivery areas. Potholes must be repaired. Refuse must be collected on schedule. Water leaks must be fixed without delay, and street lights must be functional. Where housing projects stalled, councillors must engage with communities, and government departments must remove blockages and ensure progress," he stated.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za