Public trust in the ANC has diminished

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the public has lost trust in the ANC.

Speaking during the Solomon Mahlangu lecture on Monday in Tshwane after the party earlier commemorated Mahlangu’s legacy, Mbalula acknowledged the socioeconomic factors that had led to people losing confidence in the party.

“The ANC, the very organisation for which Mahlangu gave his life, faces profound challenges. We meet at a time when the trust between the people and the movement has been diminished.

“Across many communities, particularly at the level of local government, our people are confronted with failing services, unemployment, inequality and a growing sense of disillusionment,” said Mbalula.

“The very institutions that were meant to advance freedom are, in some instances, seen as distant, ineffective, or even compromised. This reality demands not defensiveness, but decisive action.”

“Across many communities, particularly at the level of local government, our people are confronted with failing services, unemployment, inequality and a growing sense of disillusionment.
— Fikile Mbalula, ANC secretary-general

Last week DA leader Helen Zille criticised the ANC in Joburg for failing to fix potholes, and to illustrate this she visited Douglasdale, north of Joburg where she took a video of herself swimming in a waterlogged pothole.

Her action prompted the municipality to quickly fix the pothole which residents had been complaining about for years. However, mayor Dada Morero accused Zille of politicking.

Last month, Sowetan reported that Emfuleni municipality, south of Joburg, mismanaged its diesel tenders leading to the municipality being unable to render essential services like waste management due to an unavailability of diesel.

Mbalula said the difficulties the ANC is faced with has resulted in the party committing to an agenda of renewal.

“Renewal is not a slogan. It is a process of rebuilding the ethical foundation of our movement. It requires restoring discipline, strengthening accountability and ensuring that leadership is driven not by access to resources, but by commitment to service.”

Mbalula said the renewal has to start in municipalities as local government is the coalface of service delivery and it is where the trust of the people must be reclaimed, adding that there is a need to professionalise municipal administration and isolate it from political interference to ensure that competent, ethical and trusted individuals are charged with the responsibility of governance.

“Cadre deployment must be guided by merit and integrity, not patronage,” he said.

Mbalula also told the attendees that the party will be victorious in its court bid and win back the Umkhonto We Sizwe trademark.

“We are in court today, still fighting for Umkhonto We Sizwe and we will win comrades in court because Umkhonto We Sizwe is the trademark of the ANC and it’s the spear of the nation that liberated our people,” he said.

Umkhonto We Sizwe was the paramilitary wing of the ANC which was founded in 1961 to put pressure on the apartheid state.

In December 1993, during the transition from an apartheid to a democratic state, Umkhonto was disbanded.

In December 2023, former ANC president Jacob Zuma announced the formation of the Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) party which had registered to contest the 2024 general elections.

The party, which was just months old, became the third largest party during the elections with most of its support being in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

In 2024, the ANC launched a bid in the Durban high court to prevent the MK Party from using the Umkhonto We Sizwe name and logo, arguing that they were the trademarks of the ANC and that the case was meant to safeguard the party’s heritage.

However, the application was dismissed.

In November last year the ANC filed an appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal, arguing the Durban high court had erred in its judgment.

Sowetan