African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has stepped in to defend President Cyril Ramaphosa after the Democratic Alliance (DA) capitalised on remarks in which the president praised DA-led municipalities.

On X, Mbalula reshared a portion of an opinion piece by ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member Febe Potgieter that sought to reframe Ramaphosa’s controversial comments. “At the gathering of more than 4,800 ANC councillors in Soweto, the president drew from the wisdom of Oliver Reginald Tambo, reminding us that we must never shy away from learning, even from our enemies. The DA’s triumphalism over this statement [Mr Ramaphosa’s statement in Soweto] is not only misplaced, it is a distortion of the context and meaning of the president’s marching orders,” Potgieter wrote.

Over the weekend, Ramaphosa told councillors that “municipalities that do best are not ANC municipalities…and I can name it here…they are often DA municipalities.” The DA pounced, releasing a cartoon of Ramaphosa in blue party gear and hailing his words as proof of their superior governance. See our article on this here.