The African National Congress (ANC) will soon start conducting a performance assessment of all its councillors as part of the party's preparations for the local government elections in 2011.

"The ANC will between now and December do assessments of all councillors. We will do another assessment in the middle of next year," said ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe at Durban City Hall on Sunday.

His visit was part of the ANC national working committee's programme of interacting with all the party's regions to enhance service delivery.

ANC national executive member and Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale was in KwaDukuza north of eThekwini Municipality and former Deputy President Baleka Mbete was in Pietermaritzburg.

The assessment of councillors would help the party in preparing for the 2011 elections, said Motlanthe.

"The assessment will look at whether the councillors attended meetings and also whether they interacted with communities they serve."

The ANC would give feedback to councillors after the assessment so that those who performed badly can improve. Those who failed to improve would be removed.

Motlanthe said assessment of councillors was aimed at strengthening local government which he said was at the coalface of service delivery.

"We want the situation where ANC will be able to rely on them that they are executing their duties."

Commenting on the recent spate of service delivery protests,
Motlanthe said councillors needed to identify problems and take steps to address them.

"We must never deny reality. When you are criticised it is not an attack. If there are problems we must make sure that they are addressed."