By Hajira Khota                                                                                                                                                     29.10.2021

The ANC’s campaign approach for the municipal elections on November 1st generates misunderstanding about what local government should be about.

In the midst of significant economic collapse, governance and delivery failure, seemingly widespread corruption, mounting social tensions, and a health crisis, politicians’ increasingly skewed views of their pledges can all be shown in the results.

Political analyst, Ralph Mathekga spoke to Radio Islam International; he says that this is all sweet talk by credible leaders as there is no strategy in place by the ANC.

“The ANC lacks confidence in local leadership”.

As the election date approaches, the ANC has pulled out its trump card and recruited the help of top party leaders to shore up its fragile campaign. Former president Kgalema Motlanthe, former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and former president Thabo Mbeki have all joined the campaign trail as a result.

The ANC is using the faces of its prior presidents as a symbol of its commitment to better local government. Citizens’ concerns about their communities should be addressed at the local government level through effective leadership and improved management of public funds. Local governments must develop the requisite capacity in this area, which should be expressed in a local leadership value system.

Mathekga says that the ANC is campaigning for municipal elections with a strategy that appears to ignore the essential nature of local government: local leaders telling their story about why they should be elected.

This is an alarming attitude, considering that local government should be more concerned with what voters anticipate from their local leaders than with what senior national authorities think.

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