The African National Congress faces the headache of placating thousands of frustrated would-be councillors eliminated from the nominations process as the party’s list process nears completion.
The bitter power scramble has seen all-out attempts by incumbents to hold on to their council seats, while outsiders seek to dislodge serving councillors. There are now fears that exclusions could feed into the succession battle between President Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. ANC leaders have privately voiced concern that the party cannot afford additional tensions.
The ANC processes have resulted in the nomination of more than 8 000 individuals, though fewer than half will make it to the final list. Even those on the final list are not guaranteed election. The majority of the provinces have finalised their regional list conferences, where the ward councillors’ list and the proportional representation list are trimmed to match electoral seats available.
In Gauteng, where widespread rebellion was expected against executive mayors of the three metros, all the incumbents garnered enough branch votes to compete in the regional process. By Thursday, the results of the regional conferences were not yet public.
If they manage to pass through the regional process, Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo, Ekurhuleni mayor Duma Nkosi, and Tshwane mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa stand a chance of retaining their positions, as Mbeki effectively appoints them.
The party has conceded that because of the new 5050 gender requirement, most councils will be drastically revamped, with a large influx of new representatives. Before the party adopted its new gender stance at the National General Council earlier this year, the requirement was that a third of representatives had to be women.
ANC national elections co-ordinator Mpho Lekgoro said the influx of new candidates was consistent with ANC principles, but that the party would ensure continuity by retaining some sitting councilors. He said it was too early to calculate how many councilors would lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, ANC leader Thabo Mbeki warned that many newcomers simply wanted access to material resources and were lobbying on pledges to dispense patronage.
“If we permit this practice to become entrenched, we would guarantee both the destruction of the ANC and the progressive movement,” Mbeki wrote in his weekly online letter.
Lekgoro said only about 50 of a total of 3 800 wards were affected by infighting. A member of the ANC’s Gauteng regional executive said there was a danger that disaffected councillors could take advantage of the divisions between Mbeki and Zuma to project themselves as victims of those tensions.
Another official said that while there was no risk of the ANC losing the elections, it could experience a downward trend for the first time.
“Grassroots structures are saying they do not believe the current crop of councillors can deliver. We should not be happy that provincial and national structures will have to intervene to balance representation,” he said.
In guidelines before the list process started, the ANC recommended that, to ensure continuity and retain experience, the lists should have a reasonable balance of sitting councillors and new candidates.
Leftist alleges ‘mischievous’ campaign
People “foreign to the African National Congress” were trying to create the impression that being left wing within the ANC was something to be ashamed of, Irvin Jim, Eastern Cape trade union and ANC leader, said this week.
Jim’s comments follow media claims that leftists have taken over ANC candidate nomination lists for the local government elections in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The reports suggested this was the direct consequence of the conflict between supporters of ANC President Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma.
Jim, a provincial leader of the National Union of Metalworkers, executive member of the ANC’s Nelson Mandela (Port Elizabeth) region and a communist, has been named as a member of a left-wing faction out to topple established municipal leaders, including Nelson Mandela mayor Nceba Faku. Also mentioned as part of the alleged faction were Thobile Mtola, Mzoleli Mrara and Zanoxolo Wayile,
“Individuals are pursuing a mischievous campaign to portray some within the ANC, including myself, as gunning to be councillors,” he said. He blamed faceless schismatics for trying to convince branches that some ANC members placed their own ambitions ahead of the organisation’s interests.
“I am already busy as a unionist. I have no ambitions to be a councillor. My obsession is to ensure that the ANC wins [the elections] decisively.”
Jim said the only inference he could draw from the media reports was that “someone who does not know ANC traditions, who feels threatened, wants to blackmail us from critiquing” the performance of local government.
“These individuals” wanted to create the impression that this was a case of sour grapes from critics who had failed to become councillors.
“When did being a leftist make one an enemy of the ANC? The ANC I know is a big envelope that allows for everybody — whether you are a capitalist or a communist,” he said. — Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya