The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes the 2026 Local Government Elections will be a defining turning point for communities across the North West Province as municipalities continue collapsing under the weight of ANC misgovernance, failing infrastructure, financial instability, and the steady erosion of accountability.
The ongoing deterioration of municipalities such as Tswaing, Mamusa, Maquassi Hills, Ratlou, Ditsobotla, JB Marks, and Matlosana is not accidental. It is the direct consequence of years of ANC misgovernance, failed oversight, political protectionism, and the steady erosion of accountability in local government.
In ANC-led Tswaing Local Municipality, a Section 106 investigation, ordered by the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (GOGTA), uncovered widespread corruption and maladministration linked to unlawful appointments and tenders worth around R60 million. The investigation implicated the mayor, speaker, and municipal manager while residents continue living with sewage spills, failing roads, and collapsing services.
In ANC-led Mamusa Local Municipality, councillors have effectively paralysed governance processes by failing to attend Council meetings, placing critical decisions, including matters relating to Eskom debt and electricity supply, at serious risk while service delivery continues to deteriorate.
In ANC-led Maquassi Hills Local Municipality, residents remain trapped in a cycle of chronic water shortages, collapsing roads, and a municipality incapable of responding meaningfully to community suffering.
In ANC-led Ratlou Local Municipality, recent protests over allegations of irregular employment practices once again exposed growing frustration over governance failures and the absence of consequence management.
During the recent NCOP Debate on the President’s Annual Address under the theme “Taking Parliament to the People,” the devastating reality facing communities in the North West was once again laid bare. Across the province, communities are no longer merely experiencing municipal dysfunction. They are experiencing the slow collapse of dignity itself.
Residents in municipalities such as Matlosana continue to navigate roads that resemble craters rather than functioning streets while sewage flows into residential areas, businesses struggle to survive amid failing infrastructure, and communities remain trapped in cycles of power failures, water insecurity, crime, and economic decline.
The DA further warns that oversight visits, interventions, and political announcements have increasingly become exercises in blame-shifting and public relations while communities continue returning home to the same collapsing infrastructure, the same sewage spills, and the same broken promises election after election.
The Constitution is clear that local government exists to serve communities and ensure meaningful public participation. The Municipal Systems Act and Municipal Finance Management Act impose clear obligations on municipalities to uphold service delivery, sound governance, accountability, and financial discipline. Yet repeated Auditor-General findings continue to expose irregular expenditure, governance failures, poor financial controls, and collapsing infrastructure across ANC-run municipalities.
No institution can survive without accountability, competent leadership, infrastructure maintenance, financial discipline, and consequence management. Yet ANC municipalities continue operating in precisely the opposite manner while communities are expected to tolerate declining living conditions and collapsing service delivery.
The North West Province has become trapped in the perfect ANC storm of collapse: failing infrastructure, sewage spills, rampant crime, power outages, water insecurity, governance paralysis, and financial mismanagement, all feeding into one another while communities steadily lose hope.
The DA remains committed to restoring accountability, constitutional governance, competent leadership, and people-centred service delivery across municipalities in the North West Province.
The people of the North West deserve municipalities that work, municipalities that deliver, and municipalities that respect the dignity of every resident.
Register to vote DA to remove the ANC from local government and as the first step towards getting North West’s cities, towns and villages working again.