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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has hit back at ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s criticism of its newly launched local government manifesto, accusing the ANC of using ideological labels to avoid confronting the party’s plans to fix struggling municipalities.
Mbalula took to X following the DA’s manifesto launch, describing it as a “Thatcherite manifesto on privatization of the state” and saying the DA was in the Government of National Unity (GNU) because of the “collapse of ANC majority”.
DA Federal Council Chairperson Ashor Sarupen dismissed the criticism as a weak attack, saying the ANC had little substantive response to the DA’s proposals for local government.
“Fikile Mbalula’s tantrum about our election Manifesto, shows that there is nothing substantive for the ANC to oppose in the DA’s governance plan.”
Sarupen said the DA’s manifesto was focused on getting dysfunctional municipalities working again, while Mbalula had resorted to an ideological reference to 1980s Britain.
“Confronted with a DA manifesto focused on getting broken municipalities working again, Mbalula reached for ideological labels from 1980s Britain because he cannot defend the ANC’s own record of government.”
He said voters were less concerned with ideological arguments over who provided municipal services and more concerned with whether those services were actually delivered.
“South Africans do not care whether the ANC can attach an ideological label to a refuse truck. They care whether the refuse truck arrives. They do not care who owns the equipment that repairs a burst pipe. They want water coming out of their taps.”
Sarupen also challenged Mbalula’s criticism of private-sector participation in service delivery, saying the ANC already allowed private businesses to participate in municipalities it governed.
He cited Mafube and KwaDukuza, saying such interventions had prevented the complete collapse of water and electricity supply in those municipalities.
“If Mbalula was honest he would tell South Africa that the ANC itself already lets private business participate in service delivery where they govern (badly) in Mafube and KwaDukuza.”
Sarupen said the DA did not believe government should be bound to a single model of service delivery, arguing that the state should deliver services itself where it could do so efficiently, while working with businesses and communities where partnerships could produce better results.
“The DA takes a much simpler view: government exists to deliver for all.”
He rejected the description of the DA’s approach as Thatcherism.
“That is not ‘Thatcherism’. It is called governing.”
Sarupen also seized on Mbalula’s reference to the ANC’s loss of its national majority, saying it confirmed why the DA was now part of the GNU.
“Perhaps the most revealing part of Mbalula’s statement on the DA’s Manifesto is his admission that the DA is in the Government of National Unity because of the ‘collapse of the ANC majority’. On that, at least, we agree.”
He said the ANC’s loss of its majority reflected voter frustration with the party’s record, arguing that South Africans wanted functioning municipalities and reliable basic services.
“The ANC lost its national majority because millions of South Africans grew tired of ANC slogans and lables, whereas voters want clean running water, their rubbish collected, their roads to be maintained and municipalities that function.”
Sarupen accused the ANC of confusing state ownership with state capacity, saying the party had built a system in which politicians controlled services while increasingly struggling to make them work.
He said the DA was focused on improving municipal service delivery rather than debating economic ideology.
“South Africans certainly do not need lectures about economic ideology from a party whose period of dominance ended with devestatingly high unemployment rates, while ANC-run municipalities across the country struggle to perform their most basic functions.”
“The ANC can debate Thatcher. The DA is going to get municipalities working for all.”
hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za
IOL Politics
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