{
  "id": 11933361,
  "title": "‘Voters will no longer give ANC an automatic mandate’: Mbalula pleads for another chance",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/voters-will-no-longer-give-anc-an-automatic-mandate-mbalula-pleads",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-04T12:58:33.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Citizen",
    "slug": "the-citizen",
    "url": "https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/elections/anc-automatic-mandate-mbalula-pleads/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula implored South Africans to give the party another opportunity to govern municipalities ahead of the 2026 local elections. During a Sunday event at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Gonubie, Eastern Cape, Mbalula highlighted the party's recognition of corruption and weak leadership that has betrayed community trust. He noted that in 2024/2025, only 15% of municipalities achieved clean audits, down from 53.9% in 2016. Mbalula emphasized that voters had signaled they would no longer grant the ANC an automatic mandate, with the number of hung councils rising from 27 to 66. The ANC chief stressed the party's commitment to renewal and vowed to ensure each ANC councillor signs a public performance agreement and pledges ethical conduct. Every ANC-led municipality will publish a state of the municipality report within 60 days, detailing finances and service delivery. Mbalula also outlined plans to improve service reliability, affordability, and maintenance, pledging to repair street lights, fix potholes, prevent water leaks and sewage spills, and clear illegal dumping within the first 100 days in every ward.",
  "summary": "The ANC secretary-general says the party has a plan to improve the lives of all South Africans.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}