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<\/p>\nRabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za<\/p>\n
30 October 2026<\/p>\n
8-minute read<\/p>\n
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In conversation with former ANC MEC and MP Mohammed Bhabha, Ml Sulaimaan Ravat touches on key issues relating to the successes and failures of the ruling party. This discussion centres on South African local governance, structural service challenges, and whether the ANC deserves another chance leading up to the 2026 local government elections.<\/p>\n
The State of the Country<\/strong><\/p>\n More than 30 years after democracy, many South Africans blame the ANC for unmet expectations, although other parties have also governed municipalities in recent years.<\/p>\n Bhabha helped restructure local government after 1994. He now works with Roelf Meyer on a conflict-resolution initiative founded alongside the late Ebrahim Ebrahim, drawing on South Africa\u2019s reconciliation experience.<\/p>\n How does Local Government Work?<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha explains that local government has three components:<\/p>\n Community dissatisfaction can lead to unrest and is expressed at elections: \u201cthe satisfaction levels of your electorate is then expressed through the ballot paper,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Structural and systemic challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n Local government is citizens\u2019 first point of contact with government, providing water, electricity, roads, refuse collection and sewage services.<\/p>\n These services depend on capable administration. Bhabha argues that building effective municipalities takes decades, sometimes centuries, as European experience shows.<\/p>\n State Capacity and Service Delivery<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha says it\u2019s difficult to apportion percentages to problems as the causes of failure are interconnected. Despite changes in Johannesburg\u2019s leadership, implementation remains weak, echoing Professor Fikeni\u2019s submission to the Madlanga commission: \u201cgovernment is a cemetery of policies.\u201d<\/p>\n Institutions take time to build: before 1994, many black areas lacked municipalities. Bhabha cites fewer than 39% of municipal CFO posts being occupied by qualified people, and those with scarce skills being drawn to the private sector.<\/p>\n He links poorer provincial performance to the integration of former homelands, arguing that delegated powers assumed latent capacity that was not necessarily present.<\/p>\n The State of Municipalities<\/strong><\/p>\n Ml Ravat asks whether municipal dysfunction stems primarily from corruption, inefficiency, cadre deployment and leadership failure, or from structural and systemic problems.<\/p>\n \u201cThe quality of leadership is not the panacea for the problem,\u201d Bhabha responds, citing Johannesburg\u2019s eight mayors since 2016 and the challenge of 120 dysfunctional municipalities. Simultaneously, he acerbically poses the question: \u201cWhich DA municipality is run in a homeland?\u201d<\/p>\n Municipal Successes and Failures<\/strong><\/p>\n Ml Ravat questions the ANC\u2019s 2016 loss in Johannesburg and why its municipalities outside former homelands do not match Cape Town\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n Bhabha argues that Cape Town is not the only successful municipality and that service delivery depends on both political leadership and administration.<\/p>\n Entities such as City Power and Johannesburg Water were created \u201cto ring fence their finances.\u201d Their boards receive political mandates, illustrating why systemic problems cannot be reduced to party identity.<\/p>\n The Problem in the System<\/strong><\/p>\n The systemic problem is a big problem, and there are 3 factors exacerbating it:<\/p>\n Municipalities rely on rates and services, intergovernmental grants and a revenue share. Rates and services should provide 70% of income, but former homeland municipalities lack industrial nodes. National financial difficulties also reduce the revenue share, creating a vicious cycle.<\/p>\n Corruption and Institutional Decline<\/strong><\/p>\n Consultants had warned of Johannesburg\u2019s problems, but their advice was ignored.<\/p>\n Bhabha counters that R1.3 billion spent on unqualified consultants who failed to produce audits, pointing to institutional failure rather than simply a shortage of people.<\/p>\n He links inefficiency to weak accountability and corruption, arguing that declining values and greed affect institutions across society.<\/p>\n He asks: \u201cDoes political leadership create<\/em> the morality of a society, or does it reflect<\/em> the morality of a society?\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on ANC leadership failures<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha accepts responsibility for ANC policy mistakes: losing focus during transformation, failing to anticipate moral decline and misjudging poverty\u2019s shift from rural to urban areas: the ANC did not anticipate the urbanization of poverty. Although 5 or 6 million homes were built, many residents cannot pay for basic services, leaving municipalities to deliver without corresponding revenue.<\/p>\n So why Give the ANC Another Chance?<\/strong><\/p>\n Can the ANC reverse its decline after the nine wasted years identified by Ramaphosa, or is its long survival as a liberation movement nearing its end?<\/p>\n The Case for the ANC<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha says his priority is South Africa. He challenges Cape Town\u2019s success narrative, arguing that its planning entrenches spatial apartheid and neglects poorer residents, citing statistics, the human rights council and a recent constitutional court judgment.<\/p>\n The trajectory of a revolutionary movement<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha is proud to be South African and proud to be an ANC member for 4 reasons:<\/p>\n He acknowledges an emotional attachment to the ANC and sadness at its trajectory.<\/p>\n Institutional renewal and the Zondo commission<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha presents the Zondo Commission and the president\u2019s apology as evidence of the willingness of the ruling party to expose its failures, despite electoral costs.<\/p>\n He contrasts the public Madlanga commission with Canada\u2019s handling of criminal-network penetration behind closed doors, anticipating an impact on local elections.<\/p>\n He says the commission highlights weak political oversight and an administration becoming unaccountable to political heads. Administrative officials should not automatically be assumed to support the ANC.<\/p>\n Clear Evidence and Direct Links<\/strong><\/p>\n What concrete evidence supports Bhabha\u2019s hope that the ANC can recover?<\/p>\n The former MEC accepts collective responsibility: \u201cIt\u2019s very convenient for me to sit here and say they wasted 9 years. He was my leader and I must take responsibility for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the difficulty of rebuilding hollowed-out institutions, he cites progress over eight years:<\/p>\n The Role of Civil Society and the Private Sector<\/strong><\/p>\n What about ageing infrastructure and persistent daily problems despite improvements in load shedding after Minister Ramokgopa\u2019s appointment?<\/p>\n Bhabha says, \u201cthe architecture of government has to be revisited\u201d, noting the cabinet-approved white paper review and the Public Service Commission Act.<\/p>\n How did Durban turn it Around?<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha credits Durban\u2019s recovery to cooperation between civil society, business and a willing mayor. Improving trains and ports, alongside Operation Vulindlela, suggest structural problems can be overcome.<\/p>\n He identifies two reasons for Operation Vulindlela\u2019s success:<\/p>\n This reinforces the need to rethink administration and systems.<\/p>\n Can the ANC Turn it Around?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI’m fairly confident that this country can turn it around\u201d, Bhabha says, alongside the ANC and civil society. His \u201ccommitment is to constitutionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n His voting criteria are:<\/p>\n Chapter 11: Dignity and the impact of politics<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha notes water and electricity failures in non-ANC wards, including Laudium and Pretoria, while recalling apartheid\u2019s humiliation and loss of dignity.<\/p>\n But have ordinary people\u2019s dignity has improved sufficiently? Bhabha points to gains in:<\/p>\n \u201cAre the indicators about optics when there’s urbanization taking place at this rate?\u201d he pointedly asks.<\/p>\n Assessing Progress<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha concedes that we have underachieved and have gotten \u201ccomfortable with mediocrity when we have the potential to excel\u201d. He asks rhetorically why South Africa is capable of \u201cstaging 4 worldclass internationally acclaimed world cups,\u201d but is unable to repair our potholes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we are a country that are focused, when we are a country that gets involved and motivated, we are capable of much better than what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Stop presenting Opinion as Fact<\/strong><\/p>\n Bhabha urges a focus on citizens\u2019 dignity rather than political theatrics, highlighting housing insecurity in Bo-Kaap, rates exemptions and entrenched spatial apartheid.<\/p>\n \u201cLet’s compare apples with apples\u201d, he says. Cape Town is not the only relevant comparison, and the ANC lost six of nine metros in 2016. He cautions against blaming the party for every problem or presenting opinions as facts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is this a country in decline? asks Bhabha.<\/strong><\/p>\n Certainly, there has been improvement, albeit inadequate. So how then do you define decline?<\/p>\n Bhabha says that they \u201care battling at local government,\u201d and he can only sympathise with \u201cthe pain of Mrs. Mazibuko who wants to feed her child and doesn’t have water,\u201d although he admits embarrassment and says that he lacks the moral standing to even comment on that.<\/p>\n In conclusion, Bhabha reiterates: \u201cHe was my president and I can’t hide behind it. While we may all belong to the same organization, we all have different intentions. There are some that are noble. There are some that are individualistic. There are some that are predatory and we are all vulnerable to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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\n Service<\/strong><\/td>\n 1994<\/strong><\/td>\n 2025<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Electricity Access<\/td>\n 36%<\/td>\n 94.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Adult Literacy Rate<\/td>\n 86%<\/td>\n 95.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n GDP<\/td>\n R123 billion<\/td>\n R6,532 trillion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n