'WE FAILED SA'

ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile says the governing party must confront its mistakes and urgently refocus its efforts to improve the lives of South Africans as the country heads toward the 2026 local government elections.

Speaking at the O.R. Tambo Memorial Lecture in Ekurhuleni on Monday, Mashatile said the ANC and its government at all levels, national, provincial and local, had not done enough to bring about meaningful change for citizens.

He stressed that the party must take accountability and work to correct its shortcomings.

“Our point of departure, comrades, is that as the African National Congress, we have not done enough to improve the lives of South Africans. We must take accountability for this,” he said.

“But most importantly, we must also strategise on how we can correct the mistakes and turn things around for the better.”

Mashatile emphasised the need for introspection within the organisation, saying it was only through acknowledging failures that the ANC could rebuild. “It is very important that we look where there were mistakes and things went wrong and fix them,” he said.

“Because it’s only when we accept that there were challenges and mistakes that we can fix them. If we don’t, we won’t be able to fix.”

He said the party needed to be honest about where it had faltered in its deployment of leaders and public representatives.

“We must introspect and say, here it didn’t go well, we deployed the wrong councilor, we didn’t deploy the right councilor, or maybe we did not put the right mayor or the right minister. Then we fix those things. That’s what we need to do. Our people expect that from us.”

Mashatile called on the ANC to emulate the example of struggle stalwart Oliver Tambo, saying the former ANC president had always encouraged the organisation to correct its mistakes and renew itself.

“The ANC of Oliver Tambo sacrificed and fought for all of us,” he said.

“So today we can enjoy the fact that we are now regarded as a leader of society because of their work. The challenge for us is to sustain that achievement of being a leader of society. We must sustain that status and not lose it.”

Reaffirming the party’s commitment to its renewal and rebuilding project, Mashatile said renewal meant confronting wrongdoing and ensuring new members were properly grounded in ANC values.

“If we speak about renewal, I know many people may think of different things. It’s not a problem. But renewal is fixing things and teaching,” he said.

“There are many people who came to the ANC without knowing it, but they love it. If we don’t teach them, they will do wrong things.”

He added that rebuilding and renewal required ongoing education and political training within the party.

“The process of renewal and rebuilding includes teaching those who come in the ways of the ANC, or dare I say, the correct ways of the ANC. If we don’t, we will fail to rebuild,” Mashatile said.

''So the process of renewal and rebuilding includes teaching those who come in the ways of the ANC. So it's important that we must continue to rebuild and renew for the ANC to be strong.''