“ANC Cannot Be Trusted”: DA Slams Ramaphosa’s Election Manifesto
- DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis accused the ANC of lacking the integrity to fix municipalities it allegedly helped ruin
- ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged failures in municipalities, citing poor leadership, corruption and unskilled appointments
- The DA questioned specific ANC pledges, including promises to transform municipalities within 100 days of the 4 November elections
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SOUTH AFRICA — The Democratic Alliance has rejected the ANC's newly launched local government election manifesto, describing its municipal turnaround commitments as unconvincing and lacking credibility.
The ANC unveiled its manifesto over the weekend ahead of the 4 November Local Government Elections, setting out plans to improve service delivery and stabilise struggling municipalities across the country.
DA slams ANC's election promises
DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said voters were being asked to place their trust in the very party responsible for the deterioration of local government.
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"These promises are implausible and lack all integrity. The ANC cannot be trusted to fix what it has broken," Hill-Lewis said.
Hill-Lewis argued that South Africans require a fundamentally different approach at municipal level.
"South Africans deserve a different future with local governments that work, and ultimately a DA-led national government that brings the same culture of accountability, competence and service to the whole country," he added.
Ramaphosa admits ANC failures
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa did not shy away from acknowledging shortcomings during the manifesto launch. He conceded that a number of municipalities remain in serious financial difficulty, weakened by poor leadership, political instability and corruption, as well as the placement of unqualified individuals in key positions.
He added that the party was prepared to own both its successes and its failures.
"Now, as the ANC, we comrades accept responsibility both for the progress that has been made, but we also accept responsibility for the failures and shortcomings where we govern."
Ramaphosa further pledged that an ANC victory in November would be followed by the immediate rollout of the party's plans from election day onwards.
DA questions ANC's turnaround plans
Despite the concessions from Ramaphosa, the DA remains unconvinced. The opposition party specifically questioned pledges to transform municipalities within 100 days and to fill critical vacancies within 120 days, characterising them as unrealistic given the ANC's track record in local government.
The exchange sets up a fiercely contested campaign season, with both parties seeking to position themselves as the credible option for voters frustrated by years of poor service delivery at municipal level.
ANC Secretary General says the party governs well
Briefly News reported that ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula defended his party's governance track record, arguing that coalition arrangements, not ANC leadership, are to blame for the country's service delivery failures. When pressed on persistent complaints about poor sanitation, crumbling roads, and inadequate service delivery, he maintained that the party had performed well in municipalities where it holds an outright majority. R
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Source: Briefly News
