Thousands of ANC members embarked on a protest in Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape to remind President Jacob Zuma to fix disputes over local government election candidates lists, the Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday.
Zuma promised before the local government elections that the disputes over candidates lists would be sorted out.
About 2 000 ANC members from 20 wards marched to the local municipal offices to hand over a petition to ANC regional leaders under the watchful eye of the police on Monday.
One of the march organisers, ANC member Zamekile Pato, said they were protesting to voice their dissatisfaction with delays in fixing “fraudulent” candidate lists.
“We are unhappy that the people we nominated to become our councillors were overlooked and those imposed by the PEC [provincial executive committee] remain as councillors,” Pato said.
The march followed legal action by ANC members in the province challenging candidate lists submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission.
The members claimed that names of candidates who were popular in their communities were removed by PEC members.
During the march, the ANC members sang revolutionary songs and waved placards. Some of the posters read: “A promise is a promise JZ” and “PEC must be disbanded”. – Sapa