The ANC needed to pull up its socks in the Western Cape, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday.

“The ANC can't continue to be a Cinderella party in the Western Cape,” Mantashe said at the opening of a three-day African National Congress provincial and local government summit in Johannesburg.

He wanted to know why some ANC members chose to vote for other parties on the local level, saying the ruling party needed to debate the efficiency of its service delivery.

“Why are they not voting local ANC? It's an inherent risk that can pull us down,” warned Mantashe.

“We are going to drift down into mediocrity,” he added.

Mantashe said the ANC hoped to win more seats next year in local government elections in the Western Cape, the only province not controlled by the ANC, but by the opposition Democratic Alliance.

“If we can increase our number of municipalities we are controlling directly, that will give us strength to form coalitions where we have no direct control.”

KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize agreed with Mantashe.
“A lot of work done by [DA leader] Helen Zille is fulfilling what the ANC manifesto is saying should be done,” Mkhize told delegates.

He said delegates needed to ask themselves in the next three days whether the co-ordination between local, provincial and national government was effective.

“Ineffectiveness is caused by instability within the ANC. The causes are our own ill-discipline and inability to manage our own structures. That issue is what we need to cure,” said Mkhize.

Several provincial leaders, including Gauteng speaker Lindiwe Maseko and Free State premier Ace Magashule, addressed the summit, which would later in the day be presented with a local government review discussion paper.