11.12.2025
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‘Not irrational’: Makhura says voters had reason to abandon ANC

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  • David Makhura speaking to the media during the ANC’s National General Council in Boksburg.

ANC Head of Education and former Gauteng Premier David Makhura has conceded significant shortcomings in the party’s performance, acknowledging the party’s own contribution to the steep decline in electoral support the organisation has experienced in recent years. Once commanding nearly 70% of the national vote, the ANC suffered its worst electoral setback last year, dropping to just over 40% and losing outright control of government.

Since Monday, more than 1 600 ANC delegates have been engaged in intensive discussions at the party’s fifth National General Council (NGC). The gathering aims to openly confront the reasons behind the ANC’s shrinking support base and chart a path toward organisational renewal ahead of next year’s municipal elections and future national polls.

Addressing the media on Thursday, Makhura admitted that the party had dropped the ball, prompting voters to withdraw their support at the ballot. He stressed that the voters’ decisions were understandable.

“So, all the core groups in society that have been voting for the ANC, increasingly came to the conclusion … large sections of them stayed at home, but others started to vote differently. And we say there has been a good reason, they have not been irrational. It’s been based on concrete observations that the organisation is drifting and that the organisation is not paying attention,” admitted Makhura.

This year’s NGC is themed, “The Year of Renewal: Making the ANC a More Effective Instrument of the People to Achieve the Vision of the Freedom Charter.”

It comes as the party confronts some of its most serious electoral challenges ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections.

“So, what is renewal about? We talked about renewal and renewal is about fixing the ANC, but renewal is also about fixing the economy. It’s not just about internal inward look of the organisation. Renewal is about fixing the ANC. Renewal is about fixing this economy in a way that it is going to reflect national democratic economy; renewal is about fixing the state,” said Makhura.

He also acknowledged that the party’s track record of deploying and appointing unsuitable individuals had eroded public trust.

“One of our weaknesses has been about how we exercise state power and not paying attention to the need to deploy and appoint qualified people. And it is not a function of a resolution of the ANC that people who are not qualified must be appointed. It is not the so-called deployment policy,” he said.

Meanwhile, political analyst Dr. Levy Ndou welcomed the ANC’s frankness during this year’s NGC.

“My view is that the ANC has acknowledged that there are serious problems when it comes to service delivery and I think the National General Council has come up with a way in which right people are supposed to be selected to be in local government.”

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