Pretoria - Battered after losing power in the capital to the DA, the ANC emerged from a mourning period on Thursday and declared it had accepted the defeat it had suffered in the local government polls.
Regional chairman and former city mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said the party was ready to occupy the opposition benches in council for now.
“We would have wanted different results - an ANC victory so that we continue with what could have been a programme of government,” he added.
He was speaking on the eve of the inaugural council sitting of the new term on Friday afternoon.
DA mayor-elect Solly Msimanga is expected to be sworn in by Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba.
The meeting will also elect the Speaker and Chief Whip of the council.
And as the ANC shifts to opposition benches, it will do so without the head of its ill-fated mission to regain control of the capital, Thoko Didiza, who is returning to her responsibilities in Parliament.
She was the ANC’s mayoral candidate for the August 3 election.
She was seen as a unifier after the region ditched Ramokgopa and nominated regional deputy chairman Mapiti Matsena to be the city’s first citizen.
Factions that favoured the return of Ramokgopa went on a rampage across the city, but as the storm settled, Didiza travelled to all corners of the capital trying to secure votes and calm the volatile situation.
Despite the fact that the ANC did not obtain the majority votes, Ramokgopa said the party had been given the responsibility to be in charge of 68 of the 107 constituencies in the city by voters.
The ANC-controlled wards are in Mamelodi, Hammanskraal, Atteridgeville, Soshanguve, Mamelodi, Ga-Rankuwa and Bronkhorstspruit.
The former ruling party lost wards in the CBD, parts of Centurion and Pretoria east to the DA.
“The only reason we can give for not getting the majority votes is because in our strongholds people didn’t come out in numbers to vote,” Ramokgopa said.
The opposition party only got 39 wards, he said.
Party leaders would engage with voters to understand their reasons for abstaining from voting.
The majority were disciplined ANC members, who despite being aggrieved with the party, declined to vote for other parties.
Ramokgopa said the ANC would advocate for the continuation of Tshepo 10 000, the maintenance of free wi-fi, roll-out of more light house renovation and formalisation of informal settlements and expansion of A Re Yeng, the bus transit service.
Pretoria News