Will your ward councillor pass? ANC to conduct performance reviews ahead of 2026 elections

Non-performing ANC councillors could face the chop as the party prepares to deploy its best activists heading into the next local government elections.

ANC coordinator in KwaZulu-Natal, Mike Mabuyakhulu, revealed that the party is conducting a performance assessment of its councillors.

This move has been welcomed by political experts, who said conducting performance assessments for councillors is an indication that the ANC may indeed be serious about its intention to implement its renewal programme.

In an interview, Mabuyakhulu addressed a wide range of issues concerning the ANC, including the party's preparation for the next elections. He touched on the performance of municipalities and the readiness of the party’s structures to compete in the upcoming local government elections, expected to be held at the end of this year.

The ANC is in a fight for political survival, having been displaced by MKP as the biggest party in the province.

Mabuyakhulu said the ANC is committing itself to ensuring that its members, including those the party has deployed to areas of responsibility in councils, serve their communities. He added that going into the next local government elections, they intend to ensure that those taking up positions of councillors are fit and proper community servants.

“On June 20, we had a local government delivery summit where we did an analysis of how the party had performed in the 2021 local government elections, and we also looked at what had happened between then and now. For the first time in history, we called a roll call of all ANC councillors; there were 6,000 councillors present at the FNB and the dome, and concrete decisions were taken there.

“We want to state that in KwaZulu-Natal, in all the 54 councils, we know what the challenges are. The ANC is steadfast in saying that those in positions must work for the people and they must perform. If you don’t perform, you must move out. In doing so, we will not be doing it to please people in the fight over positions, but to ensure that those deployed are serving the public.”

He emphasised that in the areas where the ANC exists, members must ensure that service delivery problems such as water, electricity, and refuse collection are quickly addressed.

“This is why all ANC councillors are now going through a performance assessment to see how each and every councillor has performed their duties so that when we start with the process of nominating councillors for the next local government elections, we prioritise people who will be committed to working for the community. The starting date for the nomination process will be announced soon.”

While it was not immediately clear how the performance assessment will be conducted, The Mercury understands that the party has indicators that include councillors' engagement with their community, and if those indicators are not met, it can be stated that the councillor can no longer represent that party.

Political analyst Professor Musa Xulu commented that the process gives the ANC credibility with the public but carries serious risks.

“Councillors are generally not good performers of tasks in front of them; as a result of many shortcomings, including low levels of literacy, very few councillors are likely to survive performance assessments, depending on several variables, including what tasks were given by the organisation to each councillor at the beginning of the current term and what would be considered a pass or fail.”

He noted that a free and fair manner to conduct the assessment would also have to take into account public perceptions of each councillor (ward councillors), as there are sometimes discrepancies between the organisation's standards and community standards of public duty performance.

“Some hard-working members should have no issues with this progressive exercise. Those left out are likely to leave the ANC,” he warned.

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