CYRIL SELLS THE ANC TO THE DA

Accusations that the president is sacrificing his own party to strengthen the GNU

- SIFISO MAHLANGU

THIS may be exactly what the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been waiting for: a public endorsement of its governance from ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa.

In a stinging moment of honesty, Ramaphosa admitted this week that DA-led municipalities often outperform those run by the ANC, an extraordinary concession from the head of the ruling party.

His comments, delivered at the ANC's councillor roll call event in Soweto, have triggered shockwaves inside the ANC and sparked accusations that the president is sacrificing the ANC to collapse single-party governments and strengthen the GNU.

"It hurts me deeply when I continue to see that our municipalities sometimes tend to move even backwards," Ramaphosa told more than 4 000 ANC councillors and mayors.

"We cannot forever stay at the bottom." Referring directly to the DA, Ramaphosa urged ANC councillors to learn from municipalities that deliver better results.

"I can name it here because there is nothing wrong with competition. They are often DA-controlled municipalities. We need to ask ourselves, what is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing?" Ramaphosa said.