{"id":51784,"date":"2026-03-06T03:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=51784"},"modified":"2026-03-06T03:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:24:16","slug":"anc-2026-municipal-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/06\/anc-2026-municipal-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"ANC 2026 Municipal Elections: History vs. Service Delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>With an eye on a win later this year in local elections, South Africa\u2019s ruling party kicked off 2026 by declaring it \u201cthe year of decisive action to fix local government.\u201d The occasion was the African National Congress\u2019s (ANC) 114th birthday celebration in Rustenburg, where President Cyril Ramaphosa told thousands of supporters: \u201cOur forebears demonstrated bravery 114 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The forebears got top billing. Potholes, burst sewage pipes, and collapsed municipal budgets got a passing mention. With local government elections looming between 2 November 2026 and 30 January 2027, the ANC is leaning hard on its liberation credentials at the precise moment those credentials matter least.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Voters in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Tshwane barely need a history lesson about 1912. They need functioning water treatment plants. But South Africa is not alone in this particular exercise. Across two continents, three democracies are using the past as a screaming cushion to absorb frustrations at present-day institutional failures.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-washington-s-patriotic-audit\"><strong>Washington\u2019s patriotic audit<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Trump administration frequently attempts to whitewash much of US history, making it hard to pick just one example. <\/p>\n<p>Take this one, for example. In March 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14253, titled \u201cRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History.\u201d The Orwell-sounding order directed Vice President Vance to oversee the removal of \u201cdivisive, race-centered ideology\u201d from the Smithsonian Institution, America\u2019s vast museum complex of 21 museums, 14 education centres, and the National Zoo.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcnn%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0bUvp38yJQtDvdwz6heqDQZEJ3LwQEdj93X9PPoERLNonniWJw2BVmtXkzhHqqnQ1l&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"731\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The executive order singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture for promoting content about systemic racism. It called the Smithsonian, once considered a \u201csymbol of American excellence,\u201d a vehicle for narratives that portray \u201cAmerican and Western values as inherently harmful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By August 2025, the White House sent a formal letter to the Smithsonian secretary announcing a \u201ccomprehensive internal review\u201d of eight museums to \u201censure alignment with the President\u2019s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism.\u201d All of this is timed to the July 4, 2026 Semiquincentennial, America\u2019s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n<p>The Organization of American Historians (OAH) responded with a direct accusation stating, \u201cThis is not a return to sanity. Rather, it sanitizes to destroy truth.\u201d Art historian and lawyer Erin Thompson put it more bluntly in an interview with <em>NPR\u2019s<\/em> A Martinez, saying, \u201cYou can\u2019t turn an ugly history into a glorious one unless you\u2019re not telling the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mexico-s-textbook-war\"><strong>Mexico\u2019s textbook war<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In Mexico City, President Claudia Sheinbaum is running a different version of a similar operation, with a twist that exposes the real danger of turning history into a political monument.<\/p>\n<p>On 14 February 2026, Sheinbaum declared that the nation\u2019s controversial school textbooks \u201cwill not change.\u201d The books, introduced under her predecessor Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador as part of the \u201cNew Mexican School\u201d curriculum, have been widely criticised by some academics for factual inaccuracies and ideological slant. Harvard education professor Fernando Reimers noted the curriculum \u201clacks clear goals and standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sheinbaum, however, wanted one modification: adding the role of women in Mexican history. It\u2019s far from a radical proposition. Half the population was functionally absent from the national story, and the president of Mexico wanted to write them in. And considering that she\u2019s the nation\u2019s first woman president, it seems even more timely. <\/p>\n<p>Marx Arriaga, textbook development director and self-described communist who had overseen the books under L\u00f3pez Obrador, refused. So Sheinbaum fired him. Arriaga barricaded himself in his office and live-streamed his defiance before eventually being removed.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sheinbaum aclara \u201cdesencuentro\u201d con Marx Arriaga por cambios a libros; podr\u00eda seguir en gobierno\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZjDXrm4v0Zs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is where Mexico\u2019s story diverges from the American one. In Washington, a federal government is stripping history out, removing references to systemic racism, censoring Native American narratives at national parks, and demanding museums \u201ccelebrate American exceptionalism.\u201d It\u2019s a revision that runs in one direction: less truth, more comfort.<\/p>\n<p>Sheinbaum was moving in the opposite direction. She was trying to add something true. And it took a public firing, a live-streamed standoff, and a week of political theatre to get it done. That is what happens when a government solidifies its history. It becomes impervious not only to critics but also corrections. Even right ones. Even from the president herself.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-chicago-s-zero-sum-game\"><strong>Chicago\u2019s zero-sum game<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>For South Africans abroad who think this is all a little abstract, consider what happened in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>On 18 February 2026, the city announced that a statue of Mother Cabrini, the first American saint and patron of immigrants, would replace the Christopher Columbus statue removed from Little Italy\u2019s Arrigo Park during the 2020 racial justice protests.<\/p>\n<p>The Columbus removal was not arbitrary. His own journals document the enslavement of thousands of Taino people, forced labour for gold extraction, and dismemberment as punishment for those who failed to meet quotas. The Spanish Crown arrested him in 1500 for tyrannical rule. Within 60 years of his arrival, the Taino population collapsed from an estimated 250,000 to a few hundred. By 2020, activists across the United States were arguing that public monuments to Columbus amounted to celebrating the architect of a genocide.<\/p>\n<p>Mother Cabrini won the replacement vote with nearly 40% of ballots cast. She did establish schools, orphanages, and hospitals serving Italian immigrants in Chicago before her death in 1917, after all. But the Italian American Human Relations Foundation called the process \u201ccultural treason.\u201d Their president said the Columbus statue would be \u201chidden away indoors, out of public sight.\u201d A local restaurateur noted that neighbourhood old-timers \u201c1000% want the statue back,\u201d even as he called Cabrini \u201ca good choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even when history is unambiguous, and when the replacement is a literal saint who served the same community, choosing which version gets the podium produces winners and losers. Public memory is a zero-sum game. Chicago, to its credit, played it fairly. Democracy doesn\u2019t always win.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-liberation-shield\"><strong>The liberation shield<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Back in South Africa, the pattern plays out with a distinctly local flavour.<\/p>\n<p>The ANC\u2019s January 8 statement was delivered alongside delegations from ZANU-PF, FRELIMO, MPLA, and SWAPO, plus diplomats from Cuba, Venezuela, and Palestine. The guest list was the message: liberation solidarity, not municipal competence.<\/p>\n<p>And as the party prepares for what could be its most consequential local elections since 1994, its campaign apparatus is saturated with struggle language. The ANC website still identifies itself as \u201cSouth Africa\u2019s National Liberation Movement.\u201d The candidate selection guidelines approved by the ANC\u2019s National Executive Committee speak of \u201crebuilding\u201d and \u201crenewal,\u201d not service delivery benchmarks or water quality metrics.<\/p>\n<p>The SACP, which is contesting these elections independently for the first time in decades, has accused the ANC of betraying the alliance\u2019s foundational values.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SACP\u2019s decision to contest elections independently dominates ANC celebrations\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QwB1Z_nw1ro?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Madlanga commission into corruption and political interference broadcasts daily into South African living rooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An April 2025 IRR opinion poll showed the DA surpassing the ANC in voter support for the first time in history.<\/p>\n<p>The ANC response? Rinse and repeat: Forebears, struggle, oh, and 114 years of bravery.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-anaesthesia\"><strong>Anaesthesia<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We tend to think of historical revisionism as something dictators do to bury the past. That\u2019s true for the most part. But in 2026, three democracies are also doing subtler things.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPatriotic\u201d narratives in the US, \u201cstruggle\u201d history in South Africa, and \u201cFourth Transformation\u201d in Mexico. None designed to help citizens remember the 1770s, 1990s, or 1910s more accurately. They\u2019re an analgesic\u2014a little factual codein, if you will\u2014slipped in to make citizens numb to the harsh realities of the 2020s.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>By turning the past into a \u201cgood vibes only\u201d moment, the state reframes any critique of crumbling infrastructure, judicial overreach, or collapsing municipal services as an attack on the nation\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n<p>South Africans heading to the polls later this year may want to ask a simple question: is this candidate talking about your water, or their grandfather\u2019s war? And then choose wisely. Elections have consequences. Ask the USA.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#ANC #Municipal #Elections #History #Service #Delivery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With an eye on a win later this year in local elections, South Africa\u2019s ruling party kicked off 2026 by&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51786,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51784\/revisions\/51786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}