President Cyril Ramaphosa will not resign following the ANC’s poor performance in the 2026 local government elections, presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said on Thursday.
Speaking at a media briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, Magwenya rejected suggestions that Ramaphosa should carry sole responsibility for the party’s electoral losses.
“No, look, it’s actually a very lazy analysis for anybody to say the President is the one that solely bears responsibility for the ANC’s poor electoral performance,” Magwenya said.
He said responsibility extended across the ANC’s structures, including regional executive committees (RECs), provincial executive committees (PECs) and the national executive committee (NEC).
Magwenya also blamed municipal leaders, saying failures in service delivery had contributed to the electoral backlash against the ANC.
“You have people who have been running municipalities themselves, who in their failure to deliver services have caused the ANC the kind of electoral backlash that it is suffering,” he said.
Asked directly whether Ramaphosa would step down, Magwenya was categorical.
“So the President won’t resign out of the outcome of these elections and the President won’t accept a lazy argument that he’s the only one that bears responsibility,” he said.
The remarks follow the ANC’s significant setback in the 4 November local government elections, in which it secured 30.76% of the national vote, down from 45.59% in the 2021 municipal elections.
Magwenya said the focus should instead be on the ANC honestly reflecting on its performance and determining the reforms needed to address the challenges facing local government.
“What is important is his party honestly reflecting on his performance, but more importantly, looking at what’s next,” he said.
He identified the implementation of local government reforms as a priority, pointing to the recently published White Paper on Local Government as a framework for addressing longstanding municipal challenges.
“The White Paper on Local Government reforms has been published. And now what’s going to be important is not only just the ANC, but everybody looking at those reforms and working together on implementing them,” Magwenya said.
He said the challenges facing municipalities were not limited to political leadership, but also involved structural, legislative and institutional capacity problems.
“Some of the challenges you have in local government are structural, some are legal, and then obviously in some cases they’re capacity related where you don’t have the necessary skills to run local government,” he said.
Magwenya’s comments place renewed attention on accountability within the ANC, as the party faces pressure to reflect on its electoral performance and address persistent service-delivery failures at municipal level.
He maintained that the President would not step down as a consequence of the election results, arguing that accountability should extend across the party’s leadership structures and those responsible for running municipalities.