ANC in NW blames counter-revolutionary forces for poor showing

The ANC in the North West province has attributed its low performance in the recent local government elections to sabotage by counterrevolutionary forces. The party claims that electricity cables and water valves were stolen in certain areas, causing widespread anger among voters and discouraging them from supporting the ANC. The ANC's electoral support has fallen below 50% for the first time in the province.

Party chairperson Nono Maloyi stated, "People are deliberately stealing cables and deliberately making sure that there is no electricity. Once there is no electricity, you don’t get water. That deliberately destroys infrastructure, which is very critical." She emphasized that this deliberate infrastructure sabotage was a deliberate attempt to provoke voter anger against the ANC.

However, political analyst Professor Andre Duvenhage disagreed with this explanation. He argued that the ANC's poor showing was primarily due to governance failures at municipalities, citing the lack of adequate service delivery, infrastructure maintenance, and job creation as the main issues. Duvenhage criticized the ANC for failing to address these critical challenges in the province, particularly in municipalities such as Ditsobotla, which he described as some of the worst in the country.