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President Cyril Ramaphosa’s claim in the ANC’s local government manifesto that ANC-run municipalities will enjoy an advantage because their mayors can turn to “a comrade” in national government is contrary to both the reality and the spirit of the Government of National Unity.

The ANC lost its majority in 2024 and today governs nationally alongside the DA and other parties. And after November it will govern fewer of our major cities and towns too. It is a party in terminal decline, trying to cling to the ‘comrade’ state as a lifeline.

After decades of broken promises and failing municipalities, Ramaphosa is now asking South Africans to vote ANC not because it can make government work, but because its “comrades” occupy positions in the state. That is precisely the old politics South Africa is leaving behind.

The “comrade” state has done nothing to fix towns and cities this far. In fact, all of those towns and cities are broken. The ANC cannot and will never be able to fix what it has broken. Only the DA can do that.

The ANC still struggles to distinguish between the party and the state. But the South Africa Ramaphosa is describing is disappearing.

The DA is fighting to become the largest party in at least four metros, including all three Gauteng metros, and to form governments that get those cities working again.

From there, the DA is preparing to lead the Gauteng provincial government and others in 2029 and, ultimately, a DA-led national government.

Government belongs to the people, not to political parties. The taxes that fund water, electricity, roads and housing belong to South Africans. Public services must work because government is competent and accountable not because a mayor knows the right “comrade”.

The DA offers a different future with professional and clean government and public institutions that serve every South African equally, no matter how they vote. That is the country we are working to build.

The ANC says vote for them because their comrades control the state. The DA says vote for us because we know how to make the state work.

That is why more and more South Africans are choosing the DA because they have seen that decline is not inevitable, and that where the DA governs with a clear mandate, government can work better for everyone.

Issued by Geordin Hill-Lewis - Leader of the Democratic Alliance