Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa says the upcoming local government elections present an opportunity for the governing party to put good people in place to run municipalities.
Speaking at a meeting in Mbombela on Sunday, Ramaphosa, who is also president of the ANC, said its weakest link was that many local government structures had been operating at a sub-optimal level and were rife with corruption, which has been reported many times by the Auditor-General.
“As we face the local government elections, we face a great new opportunity of making sure we place really good people in our local government, people who will be committed to working for the people.
Our people want much more from their public representatives. They want representatives who are working to improve their lives. They want us to lift the mood in the country. This is what we will be addressing. #ANCLGE2021 #RegisterToVoteANC pic.twitter.com/vmD0keaXWH
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #RegisterToVoteANC (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 19, 2021
“This is the time when we also want well-qualified people, people we know will do the work,” he said.
Ramaphosa also said municipalities would be revamped and “sharp” mayors would lift local activities to a higher level.
“We have been through a bad season and now we want to come out of that bad season… I am confident that we are going to be able to revamp governance in local government.
“We want to make sure governance is good, procurement revamped, and [that we] guard against corruption in everything we do,” he added.
However, in a veiled attack on those predicting the collapse of the ANC, Ramaphosa said South Africa would not go down, and the ANC would not collapse.
Ramaphosa was on campaign trail visit to Mbombela, where a voter registration weekend was underway to encourage people to register for the local government elections on November 1.
Our people do not want handouts, they want opportunities to enable them to participate in the economy. #ANCLGE2021 #RegisterToVoteANC pic.twitter.com/LvL9zhACec
“The ANC, once it faces its challenges, both internal and external, it is going to be able to rise and demonstrate its strength once again.”
The president said the governing party was moving forward with the great vision Nelson Mandela had for the country.
He told his audience that the government was dealing with corruption, referring to the Zondo Commission as an example.
Ramaphosa said not many counties had the strength and boldness to go to the depth of their problems and reveal as much as South Africa did at its own judicial inquiry.
“That shows our clear determination. Of course, we are to act on the recommendations because we want to make sure that our country is free of the corruption that has spread through various structures of government.”
The government had, he said, strengthened the criminal justice system, including repositioning SARS, the National Prosecuting Authority and other law enforcement agencies.
“We are strengthening those. We re-position, we are re-directing and getting good people in.”
Ramaphosa reiterated that contrary to what commentators were saying, the ANC was not collapsing, but repositioning itself.
“The ANC is working on a renewal process. We are unifying the organisation.”
Ramaphosa urged party members to support the one party that continued to govern the province.
“We will support it in the local government elections and we will strengthen the resolve of the ANC as it continues to work for the benefit of the people,” he said, before urging the people to come out in their numbers and vote for the ANC on November 1.
Political Bureau