ANC worried it lost key metros, now governs poor municipalities

ANC members at the recent Eastern Cape provincial conference. Picture: Bheki Radebe

ANC members at the recent Eastern Cape provincial conference. Picture: Bheki Radebe

Published May 21, 2022

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Cape Town - The ANC is worried about its electoral losses in the last polls, saying it lost key metros and was now governing mostly poor municipalities that were not financially viable.

It said this would affect it, as it cannot deliver services.

The party said 50% of the economy was in the metros where it lost support in the last elections in November.

The DA is in a coalition with other parties in the Gauteng metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

The official opposition also governs the City of Cape Town.

The ANC won with an outright victory in Mangaung metro and Buffalo City. It remained in coalition in eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay municipalities.

It said there were a number of reasons why its support dropped in the elections.

This included loss of trust by the people, corruption and lack of confidence in the ability of the ANC to deliver basic services to communities.

In its discussion documents, in the section on the implementation of conference resolutions, the ANC said the drop in support was a blow to the party.

“In only two of the eight metros in the country, did we manage to win a majority. More than 50% of the economy is based in the metros and cities we do not govern – most of these are the ones that are financially viable (only one third of municipalities). The ANC is in outright control of most of the poorest municipalities, many are not financially viable (about two thirds of municipalities). This has massive impact on our ability to deliver services and local development,” said the ANC.

The ANC was now in charge in municipalities that were in a state of collapse.

There have been serious problems in some of the municipalities that are not financially viable.

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Political Bureau