Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town – DA leader John Steenhuisen wants his party to wrestle power from the ANC in major municipalities and other towns in the country.
Steenhuisen, who was launching their manifesto virtually on Saturday, said it was the intention of the official opposition to capture some of the municipalities as the ANC had failed to fix them.
He said most of the municipalities are in a state of collapse because of a lack of critical skills, financial controls and corruption.
This was evident in the audit outcomes report over the years.
Some of the municipalities lack basic needs, leading to communities, businesses and civic organisations taking control of fixing roads, water and infrastructure, said Steenhuisen.
“I know how bad things are going in so many municipalities. In recent months I visited many municipalities across the country and I have spoken to hundreds of people, and the stories they have shared with me paint a very bleak picture indeed. Ours is a country where the collapse of local government is so widespread that it can no longer be feasible to place these non-functional municipalities under administration as there are simply too many of them. Ours is a country where bit by bit ordinary citizens, businesses, civic organisations they start taking over the responsibilities of their failed local governments,” said Steenhuisen.
DA’s head of policy Gwen Ngwenya also said they need to fix municipalities that are in a state of collapse.
She said this had been going on for many years, and the DA wants to wrest power from the ANC.
Political Bureau
