- ANC-led Johannesburg cut about R500 million from City Power repairs and maintenance.
- Residents continue to face service delivery failures.
- ANC calls for investigations are a political smokescreen to avoid accountability.
The ANC Greater Johannesburg Region’s call for an urgent investigation into infrastructure failures and service delivery is nothing more than a distraction from its failure to run the City.
The ANC cannot distance itself from a crisis for which it is politically responsible.
The ANC appears to have forgotten that it is the ANC-led coalition that governs the City of Johannesburg.
Residents must be clear about where accountability lies. All 13 entities are 100% owned by the City of Johannesburg Municipality. The Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Cllr Dada Morero, is an ANC mayor and serves as the City’s shareholder representative across all 13 municipal entities.
The political leadership of the City therefore cannot wash its hands of the repeated failures of entities such as City Power and Joburg Water, while the ANC-led administration has removed approximately R500 million from City Power repairs and maintenance, as well as millions from City Power security, all while residents continue to see repeated vandalism of infrastructure.
For years, Johannesburg residents have endured prolonged electricity outages, failing water infrastructure, sewage spills, potholes, poor refuse collection and deteriorating municipal infrastructure.
The ANC now calls for investigations into infrastructure failures as though it is an outside observer. It is not. It is in government and has shareholder representation across all 13 entities, which have failed the residents of Johannesburg.
As stated in our Manifesto 2026, if elected, we will cultivate a high-performance institutional culture. Senior management and personnel will be accountable for their actions based on measurable outcomes. Consequences will be established for corruption and lack of performance, as well as recognition for excellence.
The DA has already called for multiple credible, independent and transparent investigations into infrastructure failures, including possible negligence, vandalism, theft or criminal conduct. However, such investigations must not be used as a political smokescreen to avoid accountability.
The ANC-led administration has had the authority and responsibility to ensure that municipal entities are properly governed, that boards and executives are held accountable, and that critical infrastructure is maintained and protected.
Instead, residents continue to pay the price for political interference, poor governance and a failure to act decisively against boards packed with ANC cadres.
The question the ANC must answer is simple: if you are governing Johannesburg, who exactly are you calling to investigate?
We believe that residents deserve more than political statements. They deserve functioning infrastructure, reliable services, transparent governance and consequences when those entrusted with public resources fail.
The people of Johannesburg should not be expected to accept another investigation while the same political leadership continues to preside over the deterioration of the City.
The ANC cannot govern Johannesburg, oversee its entities and then attempt to position itself as the opposition when those entities fail.
The ANC-led administration must take responsibility for the mess it created in Johannesburg and for the appointments it made to the boards and management of these entities.
The ANC failed to govern Johannesburg, even though it had an outright majority since 1996, and failed to invest in infrastructure.
Only we are capable of running Johannesburg, with a proven track record of service delivery and investment in infrastructure.
Residents have a choice on 4 November 2026: continue with the mess created by the ANC or vote for a DA administration to get Joburg working for all its residents.