Reconfiguration will not ‘miraculously’ help the ANC win local government elections – Analyst

Political analyst Sanet Solomon says reconfiguring the ANC’s Provincial Executive Committees (PECs) will not produce miracles for the party in the upcoming local government elections.

Earlier this week, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula announced that the PECs of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal will be reconfigured following their dismal performance at last year’s general elections.

However, Solomon told The Citizen on Friday that the ANC’s fixation on reconfiguring the two provinces may not produce the desired results.

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Is the ANC missing the point?

The ANC dipped below 50% at the polls last year, with their trophy province, KwaZulu-Natal, dipping below 17% and Gauteng below 37%.

The ANC now faces the local government elections in 2026.

The party hopes to redeem all lost municipalities, including those under a coalition government.

“Instead of focusing on preparing for the upcoming local government elections, their attention is fixated on the PECs. Changing structures a few months before the elections will not miraculously undo years of poor governance and the overall decay of support for the party,” the analyst from the University of South Africa (Unisa) said.

What does reconfiguration entail?

It is still not clear how the reconfiguration process will work.

However, there are reports that senior National Executive Committee (NEC) members could be sent to the two provinces to help the PECs.

Solomon said this would work best if the NEC members were advisory to the PECs.

“The deployment of senior NEC members should be in an advisory capacity as these PECs are familiar with the provincial challenges, have extensive networks and support in these provinces, and will be able to gather the support needed in the next local government elections,” she said.

Solomon said replacing PEC members with NEC members can hurt the provinces as they may alienate voters further and create more factions.

“However, their rules on what will happen during reconfiguration are unclear. It should be noted that people are often loyal to the PECs in their provinces and may see the replacement of their leaders -particularly closer to the elections – as an infringement on provincial leaders.”

SACP in KwaZulu-Natal

Meanwhile, the provincial secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Themba Mthembu, told Newzroom Afrika on Thursday morning that the party welcomes the proposed reconfiguration in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

He said he believed the decision was made in the best interest of the ANC.

“We are not sure what they mean by reconfiguration, so we prefer to wait until we know the details.

“We hope it helps to allay our fears of a deteriorating situation in KwaZulu-Natal,” he added.

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