‘Ramaphosa quoted out of context,’ says Mashatile on DA ‘running best municipalities’

“The President was quoted out of context,” said Deputy President Paul Mashatile, over remarks made by President Cyril Ramaphosa that councillors from the ANC could take lessons from the DA-led City of Cape Town and Stellenbosch municipalities on their clean audits. 

Mashatile was responding to MPs on Thursday, 30 October, during a parliamentary question and answer session which focused on municipal governance and policing.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema questioned him about whether he had found that municipalities, mainly in the Western Cape, offered the best model for municipal governance. 

In September, addressing ANC councillors, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “There’s nothing wrong with competition … [the best run municipalities] are often DA-controlled municipalities. We need to ask ourselves what it is that they are doing that is better than what we are doing.

“There’s nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing, what is Stellenbosch doing, how they craft everything,” said the President, as reported by the Mail & Guardian. 

Read more: ‘Without you doing anything, we are dead,’ Ramaphosa tells local ANC councillors

‘Out of context’

On Thursday, Mashatile said the president was “quoted out of context”.

He said Ramaphosa emphasised that “councillors should learn from one another – that’s where it started”.

Mashatile said many municipalities received clean audits. 

During the 2023/2024 audit cycle, 41 municipalities received clean audits. Many are either run outright by the DA or DA-led coalitions. The City of Cape Town (which is DA-led) was the only metro municipality that received a clean audit. 

Read more: Auditor-General sounds alarm on governance crisis in SA’s biggest cities, gives Cape Town the thumbs up

“But what he did not say was that the Western Cape [is] really the panacea for good governance and service delivery and everything; he was focusing on clean audits,” said Mashatile. 

“By the way, some of the municipalities that have clean audits are not necessarily in the Western Cape,” said the Deputy President. 

Mashatile said that Ramaphosa did not say “oh well, you know, the Western Cape knows it all”.

He said he would invite Malema to go with him next week to Khayelitsha, “because when you go to Khayelitsha and some of the townships and informal settlements in this province, I don’t see the good governance, of course”. 

The DA has consistently been criticised over a perceived lack of service delivery in largely former township areas such as Khayelitsha.

Read more: Informal settlement protesters demanding basic services shut down Cape Town’s Voortrekker Road

“So it’s one thing to say you’ve got a clean audit, but it’s one thing if you are changing the lives of people for the better, and that’s really where we must focus,” said Mashatile. 

Mashatile also blamed the media. “You know the media has got its own way of reporting. They are only focused on this issue, giving an impression that our President was praising the DA. That was not the case.” 

Townships and informal settlements

Earlier, Mashatile said, “While several municipalities in the Western Cape are doing well in terms of audit outcomes, it is important to note that there is a significant and persistent disparity between the wellbeing of many residents residing in townships and informal settlements of the province of the Western Cape.” 

He continued: “Although the province is often recognised for strong financial governance overall, this does not reflect the lived experience of many black communities, who continue to struggle with socioeconomic challenges. Therefore, Honourable Speaker, the Western Cape’s municipal governance model is not the best in the country.” 

This was met by uproar and laughter among MPs.

“I’m saying, therefore, the Western Cape’s municipal governance model is not the best in the country, as it fails to address the legacy of apartheid-era spatial segregation. The optimal model, Honourable Speaker, that we require is the one that would accommodate all individuals regardless of their race or colour,” said Mashatile.

The EFF and Patriotic Alliance asked him to repeat the statement, which Mashatile did. 

Read more: No place for old locals – Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis defends vision for Cape Town

Mashatile’s Camps Bay house under scrutiny

When James Lorimer from the DA asked a question, he prefaced it with, “Deputy President, you know, if you only stay in upmarket luxury housing, you sometimes take things for granted and you’re not sure what to look for when you go and assess a poorer area like Khayelitsha.

“So when you go to Khayelitsha, look at the electricity which is supplied by the municipality, not by izinyoka [a term to refer to illegal electricity connections].”

Lorimer referred to Mashatile’s luxury mansion in Camps Bay, which has been under scrutiny after its ownership (linked to his family, which has alleged government tender connections) was first exposed by News24. 

“Look at the taps where, when you open them, water comes out. There are many tarred roads and there’s regular refuse removal.

“In fact, Cape Town has the largest provision of free electricity and water for indigent households in the country,” said Lorimer. 

He asked Mashatile if the Western Cape was not the best model of municipal governance.

Mashatile didn’t respond directly, but said, “If I go to Camps Bay, water comes out of the taps... no problem about that,” drawing a loud response from MPs. 

“When I go to Khayelitsha, it’s not the case. That’s the point I’m making.”

Mashatile said that scoring the DA out of 10, “Yeah, maybe in Camps Bay, I may give you six, but in Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Bonteheuwel, Nyanga, Mitchell’s Plain, I give you zero.”

After Speaker Thoko Didiza had to calm MPs and then ask Mashatile to answer Lorimer’s question, the Deputy President said on the best model of municipal governance: “It’s certainly not the Western Cape.” 

He did not provide an alternative. DM