Des Erasmus
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis has dismissed the ANC’s local government election promises as short on credibility, attacking the DA’s national coalition partner a day after the ANC launched its local government manifesto.
The parties govern together nationally as members of the Government of National Unity (GNU), but remain political rivals and are campaigning against each other ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
Hill-Lewis accused the ANC of asking voters to trust it to repair municipalities after years of declining services brought about by ANC failures in many parts of the country.
“These promises are implausible and lack all integrity. The ANC cannot be trusted to fix what it has broken,” Hill-Lewis said in a statement on Monday.
“Only the DA can fix South Africa’s towns and cities, bring integrity to the state, stop corruption, and repair basic services.”
The swipe comes after ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the party’s manifesto at Riverside Park near Diepsloot in Johannesburg on Sunday, setting out a six-point plan for service delivery, municipal finances, accountability, local economic development and professionalising local government.
Ramaphosa acknowledged during the launch that services were unreliable and infrastructure was deteriorating in too many municipalities, and said some councils had been weakened by poor leadership, political instability, corruption and the appointment of people without the necessary skills.
“We will strengthen financial planning, improve audit outcomes and ensure that repeated financial misconduct has consequences,” Ramaphosa said.
He said “there shall now be consequences” for officials involved in the theft, unauthorised spending or reckless use of municipal money.
Under the ANC’s new plan, its mayors and councillors would be required to publish priorities, establish service-delivery baselines and demonstrate measurable progress on urgent problems during their first 100 days.
But Hill-Lewis said voters should judge the ANC on its record rather than its words.
“The ANC asks South Africans to trust another set of promises. The DA shows people exactly how we are already making government work, and can do the same in many more towns and cities,” he said.
The GNU was formed after the ANC lost its national parliamentary majority in the 2024 elections. Hill-Lewis, who was elected DA federal leader in April, has committed the party to remaining a “strong and principled partner” in the national coalition while seeking to expand the DA’s electoral support.
The ANC’s manifesto launch followed an event in Sandton on Saturday that had initially been billed as an announcement of its mayoral candidates.
Instead, the party unveiled a pool of finalists rather than naming its final choices for the country’s eight metros.
Among those in the pool for Johannesburg – which is plagued by failing infrastructure, filthy streets and water outages — are incumbent mayor Dada Morero, ANC regional chairperson Loyiso Masuku, and anti-apartheid stalwart and former Presidency DG Reverend Frank Chikane.
The DA launched its own local government manifesto in Johannesburg on 8 August.
Hill-Lewis said a DA local government would ring-fence revenue collected for water and electricity, appoint officials on merit, reduce red tape and take action against those responsible for wasting or stealing public money.
“We will protect the money you pay for water and electricity so it is spent on those services, appoint people because they can do the job rather than because of their politics, cut the red tape that holds back jobs and investment, and hold those who waste or steal public money accountable,” he said.
“The DA does not promise miracles in 100 days. We are offering the hard work, sound management and honest government needed to make things work every day.”
