Speaking at a special party meeting over the weekend to focus on the forthcoming local-government elections, Cyril Ramaphosa told gathered African National Congress (ANC) councillors and officials, “If people who are deployed do not execute the tasks they are deployed for, they must be removed, and if people employed get involved in acts of malfeasance and steal money from the public purse, they must also be removed without failure.”

His comments drew light applause.

Ramaphosa went on to say that “many municipalities fail to deliver even the most basic services either due to incapacity or mismanagement”.

Data show that this was not always true of the ANC in government. Between 1994 and 2008, the ANC recorded extraordinary successes in rolling out water, electricity, and housing services. The share of households without electricity, for example, fell from just under 50% in 1994 to below 20% by 2008.

As the ability of the government to deliver services has slipped, there has been a concomitant drop in support for the ANC. The party lost its national political majority in polls last year, and most informed analysts expect that it will haemorrhage additional support in polls set for next year.