Themba Godi, president of the African People’s Convention (APC), has called on voters to elect councillors committed to delivering services and managing public resources effectively, rather than supporting candidates imposed by major political parties. Godi delivered this message on Friday during an APC meeting in Bushbuckridge, where he also announced the party’s mayoral candidates for Dr JS Moroka, Thembisile Hani, and Bushbuckridge local municipalities.

Corruption And Candidate Selection In Local Government

Godi argued that persistent corruption remains a central issue at municipal level, accusing some parties of deliberately choosing passive councillors to enable unethical conduct by higher officials. Speaking in Bushbuckridge, he said, “Those who are mismanaging the municipalities right now have no intention of changing. Some of them, I mean, if you look here in Bushbuckridge, you look at the candidate selections of some parties, you can see that the objective is to have blind people as councillors so that the top guys can use them to do all the wrong things.” According to Godi, these selection practices undermine accountability and enable ongoing financial mismanagement.

Calls For Accountability And Competent Leadership

During the same meeting, Godi emphasised that only candidates who have proven their ability to competently manage public funds should be entrusted with leadership positions. He stated, “We cannot expect those who have created the problems to solve them. That is why we are saying those who can’t manage public funds, they have no business being re-elected into government because they’ve proven to themselves that they can’t.” Godi’s stance reflects APC’s broader call for voters to hold municipal leaders accountable, particularly ahead of upcoming municipal elections where service delivery remains a decisive issue for communities. He urged the electorate to refuse candidates whose track records show a failure to serve the people.

The APC’s push for accountable local government leadership comes amid ongoing national debate over service delivery failures, with many communities, especially in rural and peri-urban municipalities, reporting slow progress or persistent backlogs despite regular elections. Godi’s address signals growing demands for transparent governance and a rejection of business-as-usual politics at local government level. The APC is expected to continue its campaign in affected regions in the weeks ahead.