ANC touts progress and ‘humbly’ admits to broken promises

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says his party will gladly take credit for the successes achieved in the country under its stewardship and also “humbly” accept the service delivery shortcomings that South Africans experience on a daily basis.

Delivering the ANC’s 2026 local government elections manifesto in Riverside, Diepsloot, Ramaphosa said a lot had been achieved by the ANC-led government, including electrification, housing, basic services, development and more.

This is something the party is proud to have achieved. However, he said, the ANC was willing to humbly accept that there had been problems in municipalities that negatively affected service delivery.

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He said the ANC spoke with “honesty” in admitting that in many municipalities services remained unreliable, infrastructure was deteriorating and communities waited too long to have their problems solved. That there were water treatment plants that are not properly maintained, and pipes that should be delivering and transporting water were ageing and deteriorating. That sewage spills that remain unattended are a continuous problem. Streetlights that remain broken and refuse that is not collected.

The ANC, he said, would also humbly admit that there were municipalities that were in financial trouble, weakened by poor leadership, political instability, corruption and the appointment of people who do not have the skills required for the work they need to perform.

“Now, as the ANC, we accept responsibility, both for the progress that has been made, but we also accept responsibility for the failures and shortcomings where we govern,” Ramaphosa told thousands of people gathered at the grounds.

“We will not mince our words, and we will not run away from the reality that confronts our people, we will admit that yes, we have worked together with our people to make tremendous progress. We will say that today South Africa is what it is in terms of development because we worked with our people. But we will similarly say that there have been weaknesses, there have been failures and we will admit them as the ANC.”

He said in the coming elections, scheduled to take place on November 4, the ANC would not want to justify itself on the failures South Africans are continually complaining about.

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“We will not seek to explain away the frustration of our people. We feel our people’s frustration. We will not dismiss the anger that our people feel.