ANC’s message to South Africa: Apartheid caused most problems and don’t judge us on our historic record

The ANC said that it had done a great job of bringing services to the masses despite inheriting an Apartheid local government designed to serve a racial minority.

It added that it should not be judged by its historical record but by the seriousness with which it confronts its challenges.

This statement formed part of the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) assessment and review of its 2021 Local Government Elections Manifesto.

“This review is an act of political accountability by a movement that derives its mandate, legitimacy, and historic mission from the people of South Africa,” it said.

The party said that any honest assessment of its performance must begin from the material reality inherited in 1994.

“Apartheid local government was designed to serve a racial minority,” the ANC said in a press statement on 16 August 2026.

“It entrenched spatial separation and denied the African majority access to land, housing, infrastructure, and economic opportunity.”

“The democratic state inherited fragmented municipalities, unequal revenue bases, and infrastructure concentrated in white communities and commercial centres.”

The ANC said that, against this inheritance, the democratic government has undertaken one of the largest programmes of social provision in history.

• Household access to electricity increased from 76.7% in 2002 to 90.6% in 2025.

• Access to improved sanitation rose from 61.7% to 84% over the same period.

• By 2024, 87.7% of households had access to piped or tap water on-site or off-site.

• The proportion of people living in formal dwellings increased from 65.1% in 1996 to 88.5% in 2022.

• The proportion living in informal dwellings declined from 16.2% to 8.1%.

• Almost five million housing units have been delivered since 1994, benefiting more than 20 million South Africans.

“These statistics represent homes lit for the first time, children growing up with sanitation, and families gaining shelter,” the ANC said.

The ANC promises to fix local government

The ANC said that despite problems at the local government level, which developed while it was in charge, it is the party to trust to fix them.

“Our review renews the ANC’s determination to build local government that is ethical, capable, developmental, and rooted among the people,” it said.

“The movement enters the next period neither paralysed by its shortcomings nor intoxicated by its achievements.”

“We carry forward the confidence born of democratic transformation and the urgency demanded by unfinished work.”

It said its new programme will secure reliable water and sanitation, reduce losses, rehabilitate wastewater works, and protect infrastructure budgets.

“Municipalities must repair roads, enforce refuse-collection schedules, and build cleaner communities,” it said.

“They must extend Free Basic Electricity, eliminate load reduction, strengthen local networks, and participate in a just energy transition.”

“They must release well-located land, accelerate informal-settlement upgrading, resolve title-deed backlogs and build integrated human settlements.”

The ANC said that these priorities must become funded plans with measurable targets, named responsibilities and public reporting.

The party added that it is renewing itself because it recognised its shortcomings and is now on a path of improvement.

“We are correcting our weaknesses, strengthening accountability, rebuilding municipal capacity, and fixing local governments,” it said.

“Our call for a renewed mandate is therefore a call to be judged not only on our historic record.”

“We should be judged on the seriousness with which we are confronting our challenges and the work we are doing now to correct them.”