A performance audit has given ANC councillors the jitters in the wake of local government elections
Sechaba ka’Nkosi
Ashake-up within African National Congress branches is expected to take place in the build-up to local government elections amid serious tensions and jostling for power among councillors uncertain of their future role in the party.
The uncertainty follows a national audit of ANC councillors – a move which could see many councillors struck off the party’s lists.
But ANC and South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) councillors have expressed misgivings about the party’s apparent resolve to stamp its authority on structures and pave the way for what are expected to be mayors appointed by the national executive.
The party’s elections desk is finalising the performance audit for its local government election strategy before a national list conference, expected in September. Decisions on election strategy will be preceded by a screening and shortlisting process based on nominations received and the party’s performance audit.
The ANC is also set to introduce a new dimension in its strategy – training for potential local government representatives and the redeployment to local government of experienced members from the National Assembly to boost the party’s profile in communities.
Some councillors have labelled the audit a witch-hunt aimed at silencing dissent from councillors who have dared to stand up to the dictates of the party’s national headquarters.
The audit has drawn angry responses in the ANC’s historically faction-ridden provinces of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State.
While most councillors have publicly pledged co-operation with the audit and the national office, sources say the real battle will emerge when local, regional and provincial structures finalise their preferred candidate lists for the national office in September.
“We cannot start planning properly for the elections because we do not know what will happen to all of us after the audit,” said an East Rand councillor who did not want to be named.
Progress in drawing up nomination lists has been sporadic in most regions. Sources say this is mainly the failure of ANC and Sanco members to reach agreement on a variety of positions.
Early this year the ANC stunned its allies when it released a discussion document calling for the phasing out of Sanco in local government politics and outlining its intention to take over civic politics as part of its drive to put its stamp on all levels of political life in South Africa.
The document urged ANC branches to take up civic issues at local level in a bid to bolster the party’s support base and, more importantly, to stem populist tendencies and inculcate its tradition and culture at local government level.
In many councils ANC and Sanco leaders have clashed openly. In some cases, this has prompted individual councillors to side with white opposition representatives.
The ANC has defended this stance in a discussion document contained in the latest edition of Umrabulo – blaming the lack of co-operation among ANC councillors and tensions between the party and Sanco for the failure of local government to make an impression.
The party says the confusion between its and Sanco’s activities in townships and villages has led to the formation of splinter civic groupings with a populist agenda.
The ANC argues that the confusion of roles has resulted in a “mechanical separation between the ‘political’ and ‘civic’ role of the ANC and Sanco branches respectively”. The ANC says a key challenge before the forthcoming elections in November is to resolve its differences and clarify its relationship with Sanco.
One of the party faction fights that is likely to spill over into the public domain in the near future will be in Mpumalanga, where powerful councillors are understood to be planning to hit back at the controversial election by the national leadership of Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu as ANC provincial chair in the province, despite increasing dissent over his style of governance.