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How is the ANC Tracking in the 2026 Municipal Elections? · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Issues to the bigger picture. Follow the local government in
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: actions on 702 Drive with John Perlman.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: 17 minutes past five.
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  Speaker 3: Let's now focus our attention on the African National Congress,
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  Speaker 3: still the party that has the largest percentage of votes,
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  Speaker 3: but of course, in a local government election, those numbers
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  Speaker 3: don't directly translate to access to political power the way
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  Speaker 3: they would in a national election. Even so, ANC support
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  Speaker 3: is down, and sharply so, with around 45% of national
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  Speaker 3: votes counted The ANC is currently sitting at 32%. Joining
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  Speaker 3: us to look at those numbers and what they mean
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  Speaker 3: is Nomvula Mokonyane, who is the first Deputy Secretary General
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  Speaker 3: of the ANC. Ms. Mokonyane, welcome and thanks very much
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  Speaker 3: for giving us your time right here on 702 Drive.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Mr. Pellman, and good evening to
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  Speaker 2: the listeners of 702 Drive.
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  Speaker 3: You may be shocked at the numbers, but would it
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  Speaker 3: be fair to say you can't be surprised?
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  Speaker 4: We've done what we could and we'll continue to do it.
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  Speaker 4: At the national level, we still are leading, but also
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  Speaker 4: what is of importance is that we've got more votes
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  Speaker 4: based on the results. As we calculate across the country,
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  Speaker 4: more votes under the African National Congress.
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  Speaker 1: However.
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  Speaker 2: We.
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  Speaker 4: Are surprised by the low voter turnout, generally.
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  Speaker 2: Two, we are also.
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  Speaker 4: Certain that we are on the path from a setback
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  Speaker 4: as far back as 2016, where the ANC lost the
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  Speaker 4: city of Tswane. And the NC also lost the city
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  Speaker 4: of Johannesburg, but we remained with two metros, which is
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  Speaker 4: your Mangawung in the first state and the Buffalo City
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  Speaker 4: in the Eastern Cape. However, we do have many other
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  Speaker 4: municipalities that even now as the results are coming in,
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  Speaker 4: the NC will have the outright majority. One of the
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  Speaker 4: key things that we are now reflecting on is that
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  Speaker 4: we have to respond to what the voters have decided.
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  Speaker 3: Well, people will say you should have done that in 2024.
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  Speaker 3: If you talk about, you mentioned, by the way, Buffalo City,
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  Speaker 3: you will be the largest party, but your percentage of
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  Speaker 3: votes there has dropped from 59% in a province that
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  Speaker 3: bears some of the proudest traditions of the ANC, has
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  Speaker 3: always been an absolute rock-solid ANC metro, from 59% to 39%.
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  Speaker 1: But I want to put this to you, Ms.
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  Speaker 3: Mokonyane.
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  Speaker 1: In 2024, you could have offered....
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  Speaker 3: As mitigating circumstance, the emergence of the MK party, something
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  Speaker 3: beyond your control, something that was a new factor in
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  Speaker 3: South African politics. But would you agree that in a
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  Speaker 3: local government election, this is a direct vote in response
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  Speaker 3: to the quality of service that you've delivered in whatever
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  Speaker 3: place it might be?
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  Speaker 1: Let's take Johannesburg.
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  Speaker 3: This is people saying who live in Johannesburg, this is
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  Speaker 3: what we think of the way in which the ANC
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  Speaker 3: mayors have run this place.
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  Speaker 4: The ANC mayor in Johannesburg since 2026 has been in
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  Speaker 4: office now for a period of almost three years and
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  Speaker 4: not a full term because of the politics of unstable coalitions,
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  Speaker 4: having come in through a coalition after the DA.
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  Speaker 2: Was in office.
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  Speaker 4: Secondly, there has been challenges indeed.
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  Speaker 2: That happened because of a... vandalism, the problems of water.
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  Speaker 1: So what is the challenge, if I can ask you, Ms. Mokonyane?
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  Speaker 2: The challenge was very simple, John. You'll know.
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  Speaker 4: There was cable theft. There was vandalism. Thirdly, you knew
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  Speaker 4: that when electricity got affected with all these three things
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  Speaker 4: that I'm.
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  Speaker 2: Saying, it will then affect the pumping of water.
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  Speaker 4: And when that supply recovers, then water systems also get affected.
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  Speaker 2: However, it.
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  Speaker 4: It has been through an integrated government intervention where the
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  Speaker 4: National Water Crisis Committee stepped in. We have had a
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  Speaker 4: problem in the city of Johannesburg that the NC also
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  Speaker 4: acknowledges of outsourcing of the core businesses of local governments,
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  Speaker 4: such as the refuse collection. The voter, as she goes
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  Speaker 4: to a voting station, having to jump.
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  Speaker 2: Waste that is littered across.
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  Speaker 4: We need to make sure that there's insourcing of those
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  Speaker 4: kind of services, including the ring fencing of the resources
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  Speaker 4: for maintenance by the various SOEs that are in place.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't it, to be honest, too late for all of that?
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  Speaker 3: Because the African National Congress has had literally decades to
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  Speaker 3: get these things right. And you may choose to pick
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  Speaker 3: recent history in a particular metro. The challenges you speak
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  Speaker 3: of are, yes, some of them are external. Cable theft
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  Speaker 3: is an absolute scourge in our country. But the failure
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  Speaker 3: to appoint competent people, the overspending on security services that
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  Speaker 3: have not delivered in the way that they should, those
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  Speaker 3: are not challenges I put to you, Ms.
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  Speaker 1: Mokonyane.
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  Speaker 3: They are mistakes made by the ANC, and the voters
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  Speaker 3: are expressing their view on it.
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  Speaker 4: But you'll also understand, John, that Over the past 10 years,
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  Speaker 4: there's been instability in the city of Chouadinspec after the
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  Speaker 4: DA had... Hemant Mashaba and many other mayors that were
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  Speaker 4: in office. Then there was that instability of a one-party representative.
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  Speaker 2: Being the mayor.
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  Speaker 4: What is of importance with this is the lessons we
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  Speaker 4: are learning. And hence in our manifesto, our second pillar
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  Speaker 4: of the manifesto was about building efficiency and good governance
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  Speaker 4: at a local government level. Let's step back from Turbeg.
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  Speaker 4: When the ANC came in and became the mayor... The
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  Speaker 4: reserves of the city were gone. There was a doing
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  Speaker 4: away with the indigent policy. There was approval for pick
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  Speaker 4: it up to outsource and get a private company to
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  Speaker 4: come in and deal with waste collection. These are the
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  Speaker 4: things that had to be sorted out now within a
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  Speaker 4: period of two and a half years.
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  Speaker 1: Let's leave Toburg for a moment.
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  Speaker 3: The main cause of all these failures and weaknesses is
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  Speaker 3: political instability. No such instability in Kukompo City, in the
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  Speaker 3: Buffalo City metro.
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  Speaker 1: You've lost 20% there. How did that happen?
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  Speaker 2: That's also not correct.
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  Speaker 4: Go and read what has happened over the past five
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  Speaker 4: years with the city of Kukompo. What has been a
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  Speaker 4: challenge has been the unplanned development that happens and unplanned
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  Speaker 4: migration that occurred. But there's been a lot of formalization
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  Speaker 4: of informal settlements in that area. However, they themselves... had
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  Speaker 4: to deal with the challenges that are of a national character,
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  Speaker 4: the issues of undocumented foreign nationals, the issues around peace
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  Speaker 4: and security in the area, the issues about absence of maintenance,
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  Speaker 4: and hence it is pillar number three in the manifesto
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  Speaker 4: of the ANC to fix local government. It was the
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  Speaker 4: ANC two years ago that called its councillors and said,
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  Speaker 4: let's come together through a roll call, let's fix local
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  Speaker 4: government and grow the industry.
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  Speaker 1: It didn't seem to work.
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  Speaker 4: It has shown some progress. It has shown some progress.
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  Speaker 4: It didn't seem to move at a pace that could
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  Speaker 4: have given the ANC the fortunes.
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  Speaker 1: So in summary, Ms.
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  Speaker 3: Mokonyane, as we wrap our conversation, by and large for
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  Speaker 3: the ANC, no regrets, and fundamentally you feel you did
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  Speaker 3: your best, but the main problems you faced were external
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  Speaker 3: and not.
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  Speaker 1: Of your own making. Not what I'm saying, no.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: We do appreciate that there.
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  Speaker 4: Are challenges within the movement and there are challenges on
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  Speaker 4: how we govern in some of our municipalities. And hence
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  Speaker 4: we have supported the district development model where the three
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  Speaker 4: spheres must come in and deal with these issues.
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  Speaker 2: Where now in our.
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  Speaker 4: Manifesto we talk about accountability of those that we are
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  Speaker 4: deploying and hence we have interviewed even those that are
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  Speaker 4: potential mayoral candidates. We subjected ourselves to community selection of
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  Speaker 4: candidates Why do you think the voters were unimpressed with
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  Speaker 4: all these promises? Because at the moment, according to the numbers,
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  Speaker 4: it would seem that there are. This is what we
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  Speaker 4: put as our manifesto going to these elections. But you
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  Speaker 4: must know also, John, there's been also a number of
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  Speaker 4: national issues that were also in the domain of the
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  Speaker 4: mind of the voters, such as the issues of undocumented
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  Speaker 4: foreign nationals, which some parties contested on those national issues
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  Speaker 4: and not on key issues. core businesses of local government
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  Speaker 4: in terms of activities.
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  Speaker 2: And it is on.
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  Speaker 4: Those bases that the ANC believes, even in the city
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  Speaker 4: of Joburg and everywhere in the country, we will be
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  Speaker 4: a very important role player in bringing stability in local government.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much.