ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile once again launched an attack on the DA-led Western Cape government, saying it continued to treat black people of the province as second citizens.

“...And we can say, without fear or favour, that those who govern in the Western Cape - the Democratic Alliance - they will not care for the poor in this province…They are not putting our people first, and this is evidenced everywhere in black townships here in the Western Cape.

“They don’t prioritise services in these areas…and they don’t even come here,” Mashatile said. He said that in 31 years, the ANC has done so much, but the party still needs to do more as “all South Africans must have a better life”.

“Hence going forward, especially in our branches, we must elect leaders who will place their energy and skills at the disposal of the organisation, and diligently carry out the task given to them - working towards making the ANC an even more effective instrument of liberation in the hands of our people.”

He said that such leadership must equally defend the integrity of the party and its principles.

Mashatile was speaking during a lecture in honour of the life and legacy of Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu in Khayelitsha on Sunday.

Mahlangu was a young uMkhonto we Sizwe combatant and liberation hero who was executed by the apartheid regime at the age of 22.

Mashatile used the lecture to not only remember Mahlangu but also as a way to bolster the ANC’s presence and reconnection with the community as the work began for the 2026 local government elections.

He also told the gathering that land expropriation and BELA Act were not anywhere, in reference to the DA's demands that it was prepared to support the Budget if the ANC was willing to abandon some of the laws.

Mashatile said that he was honoured and pleased to have the opportunity to deliver the lecture.

“In the year 2025, South Africa celebrates 31 years of democracy, this being a remarkable milestone obtained through the unwavering determination of the people of this beautiful and resilient country.

“The reality is that for us to enjoy this democracy, countless South Africans paid the ultimate price with their lives. Many of the freedom fighters who gave their lives for a non-racial South Africa did not live to witness the democracy we enjoy today.

“One of those great leaders of our liberation struggle is the iconic Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, a young activist who the apartheid regime unjustly executed on this day the 6th of April 1979, 46 years ago.”

Mahlangu was born in a township called Mamelodi, Pretoria in 1956, and Mashatile said he represented “a generation that was committed to ending racial domination, and segregation even if it meant death”.

Mashatile said that it was disheartening that some have such fond memories of an “inhumane system” that they would go far and wide to lobby for the protection of “Afrikaner privilege and (seek) assistance to establish independent states” within the country.

He stressed that it is important for the country to be self-reliant and regardless of the U.S. cutting Pepfar, the people will get their medication. He highlighted that the country will also work and continue relationships with other nations such as Russia, India, China and the European Union.

“We must work with those countries, they want to work with us.”