South Africans are heading toward one of the most important local government elections since 1994.
This is not just another election. It is a test of whether voters will continue rewarding failure, or whether they will finally demand clean, competent and accountable government.
For too long, many voters have treated the ballot as a matter of loyalty, memory, fear or habit.
But local government is not a history lesson.
It is about water in the taps, electricity in the streets, refuse removed on time, roads repaired, clinics functioning, building laws enforced, noise controlled, safety protected and public money used honestly.
The ANC has had three decades in power.
It governed for many years with a blank cheque from voters.
In return, SA has seen collapsing municipalities, failing state-owned entities, weak policing, broken hospitals, unemployment, corruption, cadre deployment, and communities left to survive while politicians protect salaries, official cars, houses, tenders and positions.
In the 2024 national election, the ANC fell to 40.18%, losing its outright parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994.
That was not an accident. It was a warning.
But warning is not enough. Voters must now think more carefully.
In many mature democracies, voters do not simply ask, “Which party did my family support?”
They ask: Who is the candidate? What is their record? Are they honest?
Are they competent? Can they manage money?
Do they understand municipal law? Will they answer residents’ emails?
Will they stand up to corruption inside their own party?
Will they protect the whole community, not just their political friends?
South Africans must do the same.
Do not vote for a slogan.
Do not vote for a T-shirt.
Do not vote because someone frightens you with lies that your grant will disappear.
Social grants are paid by the state according to law; they are not a gift from any political party.
Do not vote because someone plays the apartheid card every time they are asked about today’s corruption, today’s water failures, today’s hospital queues, today’s unemployment and today’s crime.
Apartheid’s injustice was real and must never be forgotten.
But after 31 years in government, it cannot be used as a permanent excuse for every failure of leadership.
A party that asks for power must be judged by what it has done with power.
There are too many parties, yes.
That makes the voter’s job harder.
But it also makes the voter’s duty more serious.
Study the ward candidate. Study the party.
Ask what they have achieved where they already govern.
Look at audit outcomes, service delivery, corruption records and coalition behaviour.
A party that cannot manage money cannot manage a municipality.
A councillor who will not face residents before an election will not serve them after an election.
This election should not be about hatred. It should be about consequences.
SA needs change.
Not reckless change. Not racial revenge. Not empty promises.
We need competent, lawful, accountable national and local government.
The ANC has had its chance and chose the wrong path.
Now voters must choose whether to continue that decline — or begin the repair.
Voter, Newton Park
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