African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has conceded that the party lost the City of Johannesburg to coalitions 10 years ago.
Speaking to media ahead of the ANC National Executive Committee meeting on Friday in Boksburg East of Johannesburg, Mbalula conceded that the City is facing increasing problems of service delivery.
However, Mbalula says this is due to the ANC losing the City to coalition governments.
“We lost Johannesburg 10 years ago to the hands of the coalition. We are leading government partially in a coalition in Johannesburg with other political parties. And history can speak for itself that since we lost, after Park Tau , local government in Johannesburg, the challenges that were faced. We didn’t have challenges of Pikitup. We didn’t have challenges of potholes. We only had the challenge of electricity in Johannesburg, particularly Eskom, the liability of Soweto, which was at a rising proportion of up to R19 billion. We brought it down to R9 billion. We’re still struggling with it. Electricity is an Achilles heel in Soweto.”
[IN PICTURES] ANC Secretary-General Cde Fikile Mbalula, flanked by ANC Acting National Spokesperson Cde Nonceba Mhlauli, briefed the media on the sidelines of the special sitting of the #ANCNEC in Boksburg. The NEC is meeting to deliberate on and adopt the ANC’s 2026 Local… pic.twitter.com/NHlPmhnHDz
— ANC – African National Congress (@MYANC) August 7, 2026
