Ramaphosa urges ANC to deal with 'elephant of corruption' in municipalities
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has told the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) to urgently tackle rampant corruption at municipal level.
The NEC is holding a special meeting this weekend in Boksburg to set out guidelines on how to regain trust and improve service delivery at local government.
In his opening address, Ramaphosa said that in dealing with corruption that hampers the delivery of services, there must be accountability for those who fail to deliver services.
The ANC is preparing for the upcoming local government elections, which is expected to be a tough one for the liberation movement, amidst declining support over the years.
"Corruption, mismanagement, and an outrageous lack of consequent management and accountability allow dysfunctionality to continue with impunity.
"Now this must end, and this NEC must take bold decisions on how we are going to address this."
Ramaphosa said the failure at local government level fed into a narrative about a failing and declining ANC, providing further ammunition for the party’s detractors.
"The ANC therefore needs to be bold in taking action to resolve the dysfunctionality at local government level by dealing with this elephant of corruption and malfeasance."
An example of a dysfunctional municipality is the Ditsobotla area in North West, which is run by the ANC and has repeatedly been placed under administration.
Poor service delivery has led to some big businesses moving out of the Lichtenburg area, leading to job losses.
The ANC NEC special meeting is expected to outline the strategies and plan to improve local government.
