Gathering support: The ANC has called all its councillors to a meeting in Johannesburg next week, in preparation for next year’s local government elections. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
In an unprecedented show of force, the ANC has summoned all its councillors nationwide to Johannesburg on Monday to ensure they meet the party’s expectations of them going into next year’s crucial local government polls.
The party, facing service delivery problems where it governs, and aware of the threat posed by parties such as that of its former president Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), intends to rally everyone behind plans to ensure it does not face a bloodbath similar to what it experienced in last year’s general elections.
The “roll call”, to be held in Soweto on Monday, comes after the party’s special two-day national executive committee (NEC) meeting which begins on Saturday in Ekurhuleni.
The NEC meeting will look at the challenges the party faces and map the way forward in a bid to accelerate service delivery and avoid defeat in next year’s polls.
Zuma’s MK party took a significant chunk of votes from the ANC, resulting in the party going below the 50% plus one needed to govern outright.
Some councillors and senior party leaders jumped ship from the ANC to join MK, resulting in a number of voters voting for the splinter party.
In June, two senior MK party members, one in KwaZulu-Natal and another in Gauteng, told the Mail & Guardian the party had councillors who were sleeper agents in the ANC, saying there would be a mass exodus from the ANC to MK.
The source in KZN said they had told ANC councillors not to cross the floor before the council was dissolved, as they would not get salaries from the MK party.
“We told them if they move now, they will not get the same salary they are getting from the ANC. So, we said to them they must hold on for now.
“You will see what you have never seen before, and we are going to win eThekwini outright.”
The source in Gauteng said, according to MK party’s internal polling, it would take half of the wards the ANC holds in Johannesburg.
But speaking to M&G this week, an ANC NEC source denied the party was convening the meeting with councillors to mitigate against a feared defeat by the MK party.
They said anyone from their ranks who wanted to join MK would not be prevented from doing so.
“The sleepers will eventually be discovered. We are not going about fishing, we will look at the commitment of an individual to the values, principles and policies of the organisation,” the source said.
“We are looking at individuals who are councillors who are interested in improving people’s lives. A meeting like the roll call in the ANC has never been there before.”
The source said the meeting should be viewed as a way to reinvigorate the councillors to ensure they are embedded in society and for them to represent the constituencies that elected them.
The NEC member said that it was also meant to ensure that they go into communities with a plan because citizens depend on councillors for service delivery.
However, an ANC national working committee source told M&G this was not the first time the ANC had held a mass meeting with councillors, saying in 2021, after the elections, councillors were called to Gauteng before they started their work.
“It would not be correct to say this is a first. It could just be the context that is different. Maybe this time it’s about accountability and preparation for local government elections.”
The source said that, when a party has an election coming up, it is dependent on those who are currently serving to ensure that it wins.
The experience of the party over time had shown that, if they failed to manage incumbent councillors, it would spell trouble for the party.
“Let’s say I’m a sitting ward councillor, or a mayor currently, then I don’t make it to the list, then it puts the ANC in a very difficult position because some get angry and do not want to do the work — but that is the critical time for the ANC to deliver services,” they said.
Asked whether this would be financially unfair to those travelling from outside Gauteng, as they have to pay their way to Johannesburg and book hotels, the source said: “They are deployed cadres.”
They said this should be viewed as a marching line for deployees of the party, adding that other political parties had started their campaigns.
“Almost all political parties have launched their strategies for the local government elections and, as you know, the ANC on its own has various faces.”
They added: “The ANC has always marshalled its own forces towards every election — and you get different ways.
“Service delivery is key; you don’t want service delivery to drop on the eve of elections, especially where you are in control, because somebody didn’t make it on the list.
“We need to make sure that everyone understands that these are the lining up of marching orders.
“We expect this because these are members of the ANC deployed till the last day.”
A mayor, who did not want to be named, said it was unclear to them why they were being summoned to Johannesburg from their home province in the Free State but they needed to oblige.
The mayor said there was not yet a discussion document or an agenda, except for being told that they needed to attend the meeting.
“Well, when your boss calls you, you have to come. We can’t make excuses, and say it’s far, because we are deployed in council by the ANC.”
The mayor said they suspected the discussion would be about how the party navigates the elections and how it maximises its support.
They added that many councillors had made being a councillor a career rather than a service to the people they serve in communities.
“You will find councillors leaving the ANC because they don’t make it into the lists and they then start their own political parties, or join other parties, in order to decrease the support of the ANC.”
“In other cases, you find that we, as councillors, fail to save money and, when people don’t make it to the list, then they realise that they can’t survive without being councillors. So I’m thinking maybe those are some of the things we will be discussing.”