ANC wants Gauteng to be ‘megatropolis’

The ANC is mulling a fundamental overhaul of the country’s municipalities, including a possible merger of Gauteng’s three metros into a “megatropolis”.

The party’s first deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, says the structures and boundaries of some of the existing municipalities need to be reviewed, as they may no longer be viable. She said the review would be one of the key topics of discussion when the party holds its national policy conference soon after this year’s local government elections.

Though the concept of turning Gauteng into a “city region” — with Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg becoming more integrated through economic corridors — is not new, in an interview with the Sunday Times on Friday, Mokonyane suggested a much more radical change that could see the three metros effectively collapsed into one political entity.

“There are metros that we must reflect on and [ask], ‘Were we right to define this place as a metro? Does it have those characteristics, or can we do something to make it a true metro?’” she said.

“[In] Gauteng, at [one] point, there was acceptance across the board that, in fact, you need a city region here, because the boundaries [within] Gauteng are imaginary. Developed and prospering municipalities are looking [towards the idea of] integrated municipalities that have a manufacturing site in the east [Ekurhuleni], an agriculture and tourism site in the west, a financial and economic sector here [Johannesburg], [and] a diplomatic and governance sector in Tshwane.

“Doesn’t that make Gauteng become a city region? The unfortunate thing is these discussions are affected by the fact that if we go this way, we [will] have fewer councillors [and] fewer mayors. The approach in the future must be developmental.”

A few years back, not so long ago, you could know [you were] leaving Johannesburg now and travelling to Tshwane. Nowadays you don’t even know. You just see the sign on the road that says you are in Centurion now, but you thought you were still in Midrand

—  Nomvula Mokonyane, ANC first deputy secretary-general

While the proposal will have no effect on the upcoming elections, it comes at a time when the ruling party is fighting for its survival in Gauteng, with various polls suggesting its support has fallen to between 20% and 38% in all three metros ahead of the November 4 polls.

The three metros have been governed by unstable coalitions since the 2021 local government elections, as none of the major parties secured an outright majority in any of them in that vote.

Mokonyane said the consequences of those coalition arrangements should not prevent the ANC from considering whether the underlying structure of local government needed to change.

She pointed out how Gauteng’s urban areas had expanded and increasingly merged into one economic and residential space.

“A few years back, not so long ago, you could know [you were] leaving Johannesburg now and travelling to Tshwane,” she said. “Nowadays, you don’t even know. You just see the sign on the road that says you are in Centurion now, but you thought you were still in Midrand.”

Distressed municipalities

However, the proposed rethink would extend beyond Gauteng’s metros.

“It’s time for us to look at this country with a developmental eye, and [this is] not about political gerrymandering,” Mokonyane said.

“We support the [ideas underpinning] the plan to review local government that began post-1994 in 1996, [which were] about a municipality being defined [in terms] of a tax base. There must be that review now. We are almost [in] 2030, so there is a need to look at that. If [a municipality] does not have a revenue base, then how does it grow? We believe that is one of the things we should be looking at.

“We have seen some of the distressed municipalities [facing] challenges [around their not being able to attract] professionals, [and] people thinking twice about going to far-flung municipalities. It’s those things we must look at, and [we need to] begin to say the solution cannot [lie] just [in] the three tiers of government: local, metro and district [municipalities]. It must be about [the] fundamental definition of a municipality. Does it have a revenue base, a tax base? Because that is what will help,” she said.

She added that the ANC wanted to examine whether some municipalities should instead form part of larger regions and whether district municipalities had a role to play in this regard.

A municipality is not a social service or a welfare thing. You must pay for the services

—  Nomvula Mokonyane

“It’s an ongoing conversation. For how long [do] you keep Polokwane as a municipality when you can see the growth? You have rural areas [in] Polokwane that are thriving, [and] their growth and development … is very appealing — better than some of the metros. You have relations between the private sector and business that are inspiring … There are municipalities that ordinarily [would not] be municipalities but [rather part of] a region.”

Mokonyane also stressed that residents were obliged to pay for municipal services where they were able to. “A municipality is not a social service or a welfare thing. You must pay for the services. You [are entitled to] your free basic amount, but you must then pay.”

She said some distressed municipalities had become trapped in a cycle where there was little economic activity, poor payment for services, and insufficient revenue to maintain basic operations.

“If there are no new industries, if there is no indigent policy, and people always wait for the grant, and [instead of using] the grant … for what it has been applied for, they redirect it and [use it to] pay salaries, then we have a municipality that functions just to pay the municipality.”

ANC’s Gauteng experiment

The ANC’s proposal comes against the backdrop of its declining electoral support in Gauteng’s metros.

The 2021 local government elections were a major setback for the country’s biggest party, which received just 47.52% of the vote — its first national municipal result below 50%.

The political instability that followed has been particularly pronounced in Johannesburg, where successive administrations and coalitions have struggled to establish durable majorities.

Mokonyane said the ANC remained determined to win outright majorities on November 4, but she said voters should distinguish between municipalities where the ANC governs outright and those where it does not have a majority.

She said Johannesburg voters, in particular, had blamed the ANC for governance problems, despite the party not having controlled the city fully.

Targeting the stayaway vote

Mokonyane said the party had also studied the 2021 results to identify where its supporters had stayed away from the polls.

Soweto and parts of Johannesburg were among the areas the ANC believed it had to target.

“We now know where those who stayed away are, because we can see, like you say, [that] Soweto didn’t come out to vote,” she said. “[Those are the people] we must go [to] and … communicate with. We must focus on voter canvassing and not just be happy … that we’ve got people who support the ANC necessarily. We must get them out to come and vote.”

The ANC is also presenting the end of national load-shedding as evidence that one of the major sources of voter frustration in the 2021 elections has been addressed.

Mokonyane said the ANC’s challenge is not necessarily to persuade voters who had shifted their allegiance to other parties to vote for it again, but rather to bring back those who had become disengaged from the electoral process.

“You know, the party of the stayaways was the biggest party that won the elections,” she said, referring to voters who did not turn out, rather than those who supported another political party.

“What we need [to do] is make sure that people come out in their numbers and give the ANC an opportunity to deal with those challenges.”

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