Contested slice: The Gauteng region has seen fierce jostling for power, including alleged bribery at its 16th
Regional Conference this week. Photo: ANC Gauteng Branch
The ANC Johannesburg regional conference has been marred by allegations of bribery and vote-buying by those seeking a mandate to lead the organisation for the next three years and points to internal ructions that could hurt the party in next year’s local government elections.
According to senior party leaders in the regional executive committee (REC), some delegates were promised jobs — including employment for family members — should the slate they support emerge victorious at the 16th regional conference which started in northern Johannesburg on Wednesday and was set to close on Friday.
At the time of going to print, it was not yet clear who would emerge victorious as regional person between incumbent Dada Morero, the Johannesburg mayor, and his challenger, MMC for finance Loyiso Masuku, who is also the deputy regional secretary.
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula instructed the Gauteng leadership to ensure that the conference starts no later than 3 December, as the party’s National General Council (NGC) is scheduled for later in the month.
Regional leaders had wanted the conference to run from Friday to Sunday, but Mbalula rejected that date.
Some delegates at the conference had been paid to vote a certain way ahead of the conference, a regional executive committee member told the Mail & Guardian on Wednesday, adding that concerns about bribery had been raised within the party but ignored.
“There are people who were given brown envelopes containing power banks, an ANC hat, and R3 000 in cash. We can’t go on like this as an organisation, where people use money to influence delegates so that they can take power,” the source said.
“It’s Christmas and people need the money but the problem is that the ANC gets to suffer by electing people that are not fit.”
Another senior ANC member told the M&G that they were aware of people who were paid R10 000 each with the promise of even more benefits after the conference. Some were promised jobs in the municipality if their slate won.
“You can’t really blame them. They are unemployed, and here is an opportunity to get R10 000 and the promise that you and your entire family will get positions should that slate win. You are most likely to take it,” the source said.
The M&G approached several delegates at the conference about the allegations, but none agreed to speak, with most saying they did not want to get into trouble.
Responding to questions from the M&G on the sidelines of the conference on Wednesday, Morero acknowledged what he called the “devil of money and money politics” in the ANC, which persisted even though the organisation tried to condemn the practice.
“The politics of money is indeed destroying the ANC from a growth point of view, from an organisation that is stable. “Money politics affects us because we end up electing people who are not fit for the task,” he said.
Morero also defended his tenure as the party’s leader in Johannesburg, saying he led a formidable team which had managed to retain most of the ANC’s wards, losing only ward 29 to the Patriotic Alliance.
“We had a good term. We were able to reclaim government as part of the programme the ANC chair was spearheading. We are now leading the coalition, and we have also positioned ourselves on international platforms,” he said.
Outgoing regional secretary Sasabone Manganyi, who is also contesting for a second term, said he was not aware of the bribery allegations, noting that because the party was in conference mode, all sorts of accusations were bound to surface.
Manganyi added that he could not say for certain if the allegations were untrue, as he did not sit in caucuses where such activities might occur.
The ANC’s constitution is clear that none of those contesting are allowed to use money to influence delegates, Manganyi stressed.
“If such a thing is found, it must be officially reported. It must never be used for convenience or to attack another group. I think comrades must assist us and report these things,” he said.
“We are on a journey to renew the ANC, and you cannot renew the ANC while allowing tendencies that are foreign to the organisation. That is why I am calling on people to report such things.”
Regardless of who wins the post of Johannesburg chair, the ANC could still decide that neither Masuku nor Morero should be its mayoral candidate for the 2026 local government elections, political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said.
The party might decide it needs a stronger candidate to face off against the Democratic Alliance’s Helen Zille and challengers from other political parties, Breakfast told the M&G.
The DA announced Zille as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate in September and ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has signalled that he might also consider running.
Insiders have suggested that the ANC would prefer to bring in someone from Parliament or from its national executive committee as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate, but the party has denied this, saying it would not parachute national figures into the city to counter Zille.
Breakfast said he was not surprised by the bribery allegations, as this has become part of the ANC’s political culture.
“It might not be the rules or the official political culture of the ANC on paper, but these things are happening.
If it can happen when President Cyril Ramaphosa is elected, don’t you think that culture filters down to other structures?” he asked rhetorically.
During the ANC’s 2017 national conference, Ramaphosa was accused of using R1 billion to secure the party presidency.
Ramaphosa has always insisted that he was kept in the dark about how the campaign was conducted.
With vote-buying allegations raised at national and provincial levels, it was inevitable that they would replicate at regional and branch levels, said another political analyst, Dirk Kotzé.
“This hasn’t changed, and I would say it has worsened over the years,” Kotzé said.
He hastened to add that the ANC leadership may have a preference for who it wants to announce as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate at this juncture, especially considering that Zille, a former Premier and mayor, has a national footprint.