Ramaphosa urges ANC councillors to learn from DA-run municipalities
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on ANC councillors to learn from municipalities run by the Democratic Alliance.
Ramaphosa addressed more than 4,500 councillors at the party’s service delivery roll call at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, saying it is unacceptable that ANC-led council continue to underperform.
“And I can name it here because there’s nothing wrong with competition. They are often DA-controlled municipalities," the ANC leader said.
“We need to ask ourselves, what is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing? And there’s nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing.
“We want to go and see what Stellenbosch is doing. How do they craft everything? We need to be moving up the ladder of being good at what we do. We cannot forever stay at the bottom,” Ramaphosa said.
The president said it “hurts him deeply” that audit outcomes continue to show that ANC municipalities are falling behind.
He noted that some financial statements are not even prepared within councils but outsourced, and often come back riddled with errors.
“Now, what it means is that we do need to get capable people.
“Our country is not short of people who understand numbers. It’s not short of people who understand accounting.
“Let us go and get people who understand accounting,” Ramaphosa said.
He criticised the trend of outsourcing core municipal functions, saying it deprives young people of opportunities to develop skills and contribute to their towns.
“Quite often, we outsource everything. We find people who will capture the city, or the town, or the municipality, and we hand over everything to them.
“And we don’t even know what is happening. Young people who have been well trained do not get opportunities to work in the municipality to sharpen their own skills and wits.
“And they become frustrated and leave. It’s important that we should insource. We should bring back the skills in the town, rather than to keep on outsourcing everything.”
Ramaphosa urged councillors to treat service delivery with urgency, likening it to a “marching order” similar to the ANC Youth League’s famous slogan.
“They were saying economic transformation or death. And I say it’s service delivery improvement or death for us. That is how we must approach it,” he said.
Using water and sewage as key examples, Ramaphosa told councillors they should be the first to know when there are leaks or blockages in their communities, and ensure they are fixed within 48 hours.
“It is unacceptable that as councillors, as leaders of the people, we can have water leaks and sewage running in the streets and not take any action.
“If there’s ever going to be sewage leaking into your yard and into your house as a councillor, you will make sure that you attend to it within a short space of time.
“The same must apply to the people that you lead,” he said.
Ramaphosa said councillors will be required to submit quarterly reports to track their performance ahead of the next local government elections.
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