- Ramaphosa first said ANC councillors should learn from DA-run municipalities like Cape Town and Stellenbosch, but later admitted he should have explained better.
- He now says clean audits don't mean townships improve, claiming ANC councils do more to transform communities and deliver change for poor residents.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted he didn't explain himself properly when he told ANC councillors to learn from DA municipalities.
At a councillor roll call, Ramaphosa said it was "painful" that the best-run municipalities, according to the auditor-general, were not ANC-controlled but run by the DA. He urged councillors to ask what Cape Town and Stellenbosch were doing right.
But three days later, he pulled back. Speaking to SABC News, Ramaphosa said DA municipalities may get clean audits, but poor residents in areas like Philippi, Delft and Langa don't see real change.
He said ANC councils are stronger at transforming communities, and insisted the DA could also learn from the ANC.
"I should have talked about the full equation," he said, adding that compliance and transformation are both important.
Political analyst Andre Duvenhage told The Citizen the president's comments showed concern about poor governance in ANC councils and pressure on the ANC ahead of elections.
Cosatu and the SACP agreed DA municipalities do better in some ways but said it's because they serve richer areas. In townships like Khayelitsha and Manenberg, they said, poverty, crime and sewerage in the streets remain a daily reality.
