The name of former African National Congress Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela does not appear on the party’s list of candidates for Parliament, released on Friday.
Madikizela-Mandela resigned as a Member of Parliament, women’s league president, and a member of the ANC’s national executive committee last year after her conviction on dozens of fraud and theft charges.
She was sentenced to five years in jail, of which eight months had to be served in prison and the rest as community service. An appeal against her conviction was pending.
ANC spokesperson Steyn Speed said neither Madikizela-Mandela’s criminal conviction nor her resignation from Parliament precluded her from being on the list.
He could not say, though, why her name was not listed. ”I don’t know if it was that she was not nominated or whether she declined to stand.”
Former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, convicted of fraud last year, is also not on the list. Yengeni undertook not to make himself available for public office after the ANC instituted disciplinary steps against him. It suspended his membership of the party for five years — which sanction was conditionally suspended for three years. Yengeni’s wife, Lumka, is number 62 on the list.
Other names missing from the list were those of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa, Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, and former Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele.
Moosa and Maduna have said they want to retire from active politics, while Mthembi-Mahanyele last year took up the full-time position of ANC deputy secretary-general.
President Thabo Mbeki heads the national list, followed by his deputy Jacob Zuma.
Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is number three on the list, followed by Education Minister Kader Asmal, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota.
Number eight is Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour, followed by Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi.
Four ANC premiers had been moved from the provinces to the national candidates list. They are Manne Dipico of the Northern Cape, Popo Molefe of the North West, Ngoako Ramathlodi of Limpopo, and Winkie Direko of the Free State. Dipico is number 10 on the list.
Speed said Dipico, Molefe and Ramathlodi had all served the maximum of two terms allowed by the constitution. He could not explain Direko’s move, saying only it was the result of the party’s ”list process”.
Mpumalanga premier Ndaweni Mahlangu was number two on the party’s list for that province, after Siphosezwe Masango. This did not necessarily mean Mahlangu would not be re-elected premier, Speed said.
”The process of selecting premiers is a separate one.”
Number one on the Northern Cape list was Tina Joemat-Petterson, on the North West list, Darkey Africa, on the Limpopo list Sello Moloto, and for the Free State, Ace Magashule.
Eastern Cape premier Makhenkesi Stofile remained first on his provincial list, as did Mbhazima Shilowa of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal party chairperson Sbu Ndebele, and Western Cape chairperson Ebrahim Rasool.
The ANC submitted its candidates lists to the Independent Electoral Commission earlier in the day, with a registration fee of R420 000 for contesting the poll nationally, and in all nine provinces.
”The ANC’s candidates are the most committed, capable, experienced and representative group of candidates any party contesting this election has to offer,” a party statement read. – Sapa