President Cyril Ramaphosa says local government must be used as “a force for good for development” where South Africans “have better service delivery in their communities.”
Speaking during the official announcement of the final 2021 municipal election results in Pretoria on Thursday evening, Ramaphosa said at the end of the day “we all want the same thing – to better the lives of South Africans.”
“We need to strengthen the trust between citizens and elected representatives through competence, integrity, performance and delivery. Public representatives need to be more visible and active in our communities,” he said.
He reminded the leaders that they needed “to focus on implementation, and make the people partners in development.”
He added: “Above all, the leaders need to listen to the communities they serve. And I want to thank all those people who have contributed to the success of the 2021 local government elections.”
Noting that more than 12.3 million South Africans cast their ballots in local government elections on Monday, Ramaphosa said, by doing so, they have “contributed to strengthening and consolidating democracy.”
“We owe it to the millions of South Africans who voted in this election to bring about the change they are asking for. Let us turn the promises that we made on the campaign trail into reality,” Ramaphosa said.
The election was contested by a record 325 political parties and nearly 95,000 candidates, of whom more than 1,500 ran as independents.
NM/jn/APA