Analysts believe it may be too late for the ANC to fix itself ahead of the local government and municipal elections, saying the party’s dismal showing in the general elections this year was a testament to that.
The party is licking its wounds after the May 29 elections where for the first time since 1994 it dwindled under 50% of the vote, forcing it to align with the DA and 10 other parties to form the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The party held a three day lekgotla at the Birchwood Hotel that ended on Tuesday to self-reflect and analyse what could have gone wrong during the elections and why the party has lost its majority.
Among the other reasons for gathering mayors, premiers, ministers and deputies was to formulate an action plan for the upcoming local elections.
Speaking on national television, political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the party had suffered a blow at local government level because of the slow pace of service delivery which has resulted in setbacks in the metros.
“If you look at the interventions of government at local government level since the early 2000s there have been many. One of them is to consolidate and strengthen the municipalities but nothing has changed …
“If you look at the AG’s report year in and year out it's the same thing: they are misusing funds and people are not being disciplined, so it's all talk and no action.
“So there is nothing new that came out of their own analysis but it’s good analysis because it made the party to look back and look ahead.
“I'm glad that they are appreciating the fact that if they don't improve rendering services to residents they will suffer more setbacks in the upcoming local government elections,” he said.
The ANC needed a major shake up at a party level because one of its challenges was ill-discipline, he said.
“They have not even applied the step aside rule in a consistent fashion. I think it has been used to purge those who don't belong to the dominant faction …
“They need to roll out programmes of political education …One of the reasons why ANC members are not disciplined is because they lack political education,” Breakfast said.
The party’s head of elections, Mdumiseni Ntuli, presented a report detailing what could have gone wrong in the ANC’s campaign that led to its poor showing.
Ntuli said that one of the reasons the party lost its majority status in the 2024 general elections was because South Africa was unable to integrate the vast majority of its population into the economy.
Ntuli said: “The condition we find is not of our own making. We had various protected engagements with political parties including the EFF and uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), but failed to reach consensus on key issues.”
Ntuli said both the EFF and MKP proposed exclusive coalitions with the ANC, insisting that the party disregard other potential partners.
However, there were significant objections. The MKP, for instance, rejected the idea of President Cyril Ramaphosa as a candidate in any grand coalition, Ntuli said.
Ntuli recounted that the EFF and the DA were candid in their assessments, suggesting the ANC was a ‘’dying party’’ and implying that its future would be limited.
Ntuli said the three fundamental issues they grappled with in the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the lekgotla were the decline in membership and leadership quality, economic failures and the state of governance.
“There is something radically wrong with the state of the ANC, both in terms of quality of membership and leadership.”
Ntuli said the ANC has also struggled with effective strategic leadership, particularly in local and provincial governments.
This has resulted in the failure of the economy to absorb as many South Africans as possible, particularly the youth, which has led to a negative performance of the ANC. | Additional reporting by Hope Ntanzi (IOL)
The Star