Implicated: The office of the secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, has been linked to the manipulation of national and provincial lists submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa. Photo: OK Koloti/Gallo Images
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula is under fire after a report by the electoral committee headed by former president Kgalema Motlanthe found that the party’s provincial and national parliamentary lists were manipulated under his watch.
Sources with intimate knowledge of the report, which was presented to the ANC’s top officials in March, told the Mail & Guardian that Motlanthe found that the lists from Gauteng, North West, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal had been altered at the secretary general’s office.
The ANC’s electoral committee found that the altered lists were sent to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) under the guise of urgency, the sources said.
Motlanthe is said to have told the officials, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, that the lists submitted to the IEC were sent to Mbalula’s office without the knowledge of the provincial electoral committees.
The insiders said the investigation by Motlanthe found that the lists originated from the ANC’s elections agent and went straight to Mbalula’s office.
“On the 5th of March the right lists were submitted to the independent agency that is commissioned to oversee our elections processes. This list was uploaded on the system for submission,” one high ranking ANC insider said.
They said on 8 March at about 1pm, the agency sent another list that had not emanated from the electoral committee, raising concern because it was different from the original one.
“At around 5pm it was discovered that the list was different. It was engineered to create an emergency of closing so that the altered list would be submitted. The electoral committee investigation found a new list had been submitted and reported this to the officials,” another insider said.
The ANC national executive committee (NEC) member said the officials recommended that all those who benefited from the manipulation should be instructed not to accept positions on the list.
“The officials also ordered that those who were victims of the manipulation would be reallocated to their rightful place on the list. The officials decided that those who were victims of the manipulation must be addressed and spoken to so they are told there is a process to be rectified,” the insider said.
According to the senior ANC officials who spoke to the M&G, Mbalula’s deputies, Nomvula Mokonyane and Maropeni Ramokgopa, laid the blame for the manipulation at the secretary general’s office.
“When the president and the other officials asked for an explanation from the SG’s office, the DSGs [deputy secretary generals] said they had nothing to do with it and that the person who would need to explain this matter is the secretary general,” one said.
When Mbalula was asked to explain, he said Andries Nel was among the ANC leaders who had been charged with overseeing the process, the insider said. Nel was brought into the secretary general’s office when Ace Magashule was the secretary general.
“Comrade Kgalema’s report recommended that there should be consequence management including disciplinary action against staff involved in the secretary general’s office and if there is evidence found which indicates that Mbalula was directly involved, he should also face disciplinary action,” one of the sources said.
According to the insiders, the officials have ordered that a forensic investigation be initiated.
They said the list had been taken to the party’s top brass in February to remove the names of people who were on both the national and provincial lists and those who did not pass the vetting process.
The party’s top seven officials at the time called for the adoption of a report by the ANC’s integrity commission that Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa, Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo and former finance minister Malusi Gigaba be booted from the elections list.
Discipline: ANC electoral committee head Kgalema Motlanthe wants action taken against those involved in the party’s list manipulation should such evidence be found.
Photo: Tebogo Letsie/Getty Images
Mahlobo however appeared as part of the top 10 names submitted to the IEC. Those who appear at the top of the list are typically in line for ministerial positions.
The insiders said the electoral committee found that the Limpopo list had been completely overhauled and the culprits had also changed the names on the KwaZulu-Natal’s province-to-national and province-to-province lists. In the North West, Motlanthe found that at least two names had been moved from the provincial to the national list.
Those affected by the manipulation in Gauteng included former provincial secretaries Hope Papo and Jacob Khawe, who were moved from their safe spots at the top of the list to the bottom.
“In the North West, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal the committee found that the draft list was submitted to the IEC. The list which had been finalised and approved by the officials disappeared. Naturally the national officials did not accept those errors and expressed that there should be consequences,” one ANC insider said.
They added that the report by Motlanthe was accepted by the officials, who wanted a more detailed report on the ANC leaders who had been the masterminds of the manipulation.
“Had officials done what comrade Motlanthe wanted by now, you would be finding remedial actions if they had convened these comrades. That reluctance not to implement the decision is problematic,” the source said.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Mbalula sent a brief text message: “I am not going respond to fishing expeditions. I don’t validate gossip.”
ANC MP Boy Mamabolo is the only leader who has taken the party to court, accusing it of illegally removing his name from the national candidate list after “240 branches” elected him. The Polokwane high court however dismissed Mamabolo’s application for the matter to be heard on an urgent basis.
Mbalula has in the past been accused of manipulating processes to serve his own interests.
Shortly after his election as the party’s administrative head, Mbalula was tasked with overseeing the elections in its league structures. He is said to have hand picked ANC Youth League leader Collen Malatji and the league’s top officials alongside his allies including Mdu Manana — who was later appointed head of organising, an important role with significant influence in the ANC.
The election of Malatji as youth league president was marred by allegations that Mbalula and Manana, among others, had interfered in the process.
Claims that Mbalula had dismissed Xola Nqola as the youth league’s national task team convenor to ensure a favourable outcome for his alleged preferred candidate, Malatji, dogged the league’s conference in June 2023.
The M&G reported back then that some in its national working committee had taken issue with Mbalula’s decision to remove Nqola, accusing him of acting with autonomy by failing to consult the party’s leaders.
Some in the youth league’s task team wrote to Luthuli House in the middle of the conference, calling out Mbalula for interfering in the process and demanding autonomy.
Mbalula subsequently told the young lions that the ANC would only surrender control of the youth league once it elected its leaders.
*This story has been updated