The African National Congress is facing internal rebellion in some of its traditional strongholds ahead of the local government election. A growing number of party members in at least three provinces have indicated they will break ranks and stand as independent candidates. South Africa’s growing civic movement is also set to challenge the elections on an unprecedented scale.
The ANC, which launched its local government election campaign in the Western Cape last Sunday, faces its toughest dissent in that province. Beyond the 11 ANC members who have indicated they will go it alone in Khayelitsha, about 150 ANC members have abandoned the party in five local municipalities — Mossel Bay, George, Oudtshoorn, Kannaland and Knysna — to join a newly formed group called the Southern Cape Independent Civic Organisation, which will field independent ward candidates.
Dawid Kamfer, the spokesperson for the new organisation, said it was currently finalising ward lists for submission to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) by January 19.
”This is not about ANC members who have been left off the party lists, it’s about general unhappiness with the implementation of ANC policy,” he said. ”People are not growing with the party.”
Harry Levendal, a former ANC council member in Mossel Bay, quit this position on Wednesday to join the new civic organisation. He was in seventh place on the ANC list for Eden District Municipality for the upcoming election. ”I am tired of the lack of principles and unfairness in the way party structures conduct themselves,” he said. ”I am a community man and I want to serve people honestly.”
These latest divisions in the Western Cape means the ANC will face its toughest fight from its own ranks. The Cape Town municipality is already a hot potato with the ANC and the Democratic Alliance neck and neck to take the city — the margins are so narrow that voter turnout, based on demographics, will be the deciding factor.
ANC deputy secretary general Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele is sanguine about opposition in the party’s ranks. ”All elections have people who sulk because they could not get one thing or another from the ANC,” she said this week. ”These are people who join the ANC seeking a position of power rather than to serve the people. They cannot face up to positive competition between comrades and become desperate.”
In the Northern Cape, a group of about 10 ANC members is threatening to stand independently. Neville Mompati, the ANC secretary in the Northern Cape, confirmed the party was facing a challenge from ”several” members in the Hartswater region in the province.
On Tuesday, the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the Free State announced it would contest the local government elections alone, two days after the national organisation pledged its full support for the ANC in the local government elections.
A group of about 20 Sanco members in the Bloemfontein region will go it alone because of grievances with the province’s list of candidates.
Vuyisile Wittes, the Sanco chairperson in the Free State, said the organisation was holding a special extended executive committee meeting over the weekend in an attempt to resolve the issue. ”It’s an unfortunate experience that we have such things,” he said. ”These people are unhappy with the way the list was drawn up — the process didn’t go the way they expected.”
The South African Communist Party has also indicated it was aware of at least two other areas where independent candidates ”are likely to stand”, said Nkosiphendule Kolisile, the party chairperson in the West Rand. These include Khutsong, which falls under Merafong municipality in the North West, which has been wracked by protests over the cross-border municipality debacle; and Moutse in Mpumulanga, traditionally a very poorly served area.
Kolisile said, while the SACP discouraged independents because it had pledged its support to the ruling party, the ANC had ”played with the emotions of the people” in areas such as Khutsong and he, therefore, ”[understood] their frustrations and [cries] for independent candidates”.
Mthembi-Mahanyele said the party leadership would expel any members who stood as independents. ”They can’t claim, like I’ve had this person from Khayelitsha saying he wants to stand as an independent, but on an ANC ticket to strengthen the ANC. That is a contradiction,” she said.
At least eight social movements in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni will field a total of 55 ward candidates and three social movement groups — Operation Khanyisa Movement (a cluster of four Johannesburg-based movements), Thembisa Concerned Residents and Katorus Concerned Residents — have registered with the IEC as political parties to participate in the proportional representation list system.
Lydia Young, the spokesperson for the IEC, could not confirm the registration of the three organisations because the certification of registered parties by the commission will only take place on January 31.
”We’re not fighting to run council. We want to publicise our campaigns and challenge the ruling party on the ground where it counts most,” said Trevor Ngwane, the spokesperson for Operation Khanyisa Movement.
Adam Habib, the executive director for democracy and development at the Human Sciences Research Council, was sceptical about the ability of independent candidates and groups to sustain themselves in the face of ANC hegemony. ”The question is: Can they constitute themselves into a coherent force? Their track record is not significant.”
He, however, said their scale is wider this year than in previous elections. ”This could be because there is a degree of social cement at the local level. [The difference this time] could be that people cast protest votes and this would throw a very different colour on the outcome [of the election].”
Every independent ward candidate has to register with the IEC by next Sunday and pay a fee of R500. In addition, they have to submit the names and signatures of 50 registered voters who have pledged to support them.
Mthembi-Mahanyele said the party was confident its system of local government was working for the people, despite pervasive trends of councillor inaccessibility and corruption. The ANC conducted a country wide survey in the second half of last year to inform their local government manifesto, which consisted of several focus groups in each province.
According to Mthembi-Mahanyele, 64% of the people said they wanted to maintain the councillor system, 52% felt their lives had improved under the ANC government and 58% said their municipal offices were accessible.
Promises, promises
Three parties — the African National Congress, Independent Democrats, and the African Christian Democrats — have thus far released their manifestos, writes Nic Dawes. The Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party formally launch their campaigns this weekend.
The ANC
The foundation of the ANC platform is the party’s record of running the vast majority of municipalities, as well as at national and provincial level, stressing what it says are improvements in municipal infrastructure access to water, electricity, housing, education, land and work opportunities.
Concrete promises in the manifesto focus on the delivery of basic services in poor communities. By 2007, it says, the bucket sanitation system will be eradicated, by 2010 all households will have clean running water and decent sanitation, and by 2012 all will have access to electricity.
Vaguer promises include unspecified improvements in the way housing is allocated, better service at clinics, schools, police stations and other government centres, job- creating investment programmes and skills training initiatives.
Considerable stress is placed on the party’s ability to enforce discipline on its officials in public office.
”By supervising the work of all our public representatives in government, we will ensure that these tasks are met. By improving the capacity of all government structures to serve the people, we will make government work better for you. By fighting corruption and arrogance among some who work in government, the ANC is determined to respect the people’s mandate,” the manifesto says.
The ID
The ID manifesto situates local government as ”the primary driver of development in our communities” and stresses ”the right to live in safe, healthy and environmentally sound communities” with strong local economies.
It promises to double the allocation of free basic water and electricity, end evictions by the ”Red Ants”, and adopt a more compassionate approach to service- charge arrears, while pressing large-scale users to pay up.
The party also promises more cash for local government to end unfunded mandates, to change cost-recovery models to account for gender equity, health and the environment, and more clearly to define the role of local and district municipalities. Local municipalities should handle basic services, the party argues, while districts should be responsible for major infrastructure and economic development.
The ACDP
The ACDP focuses on six priorities: housing and land; value for money; transport and roads; crime corruption and law enforcement; water and electricity and education.
In ACDP municipalities people waiting for housing should be employed to build their own houses, the party suggests, instilling ”dignity and pride” in the process. Meanwhile, housing lists should be made public to improve transparency, and a special court established to administer disputes. Under the value for money banner, the party says it will appoint honest staff, reverse the culture of non-payment for services, end lavish launches and parties, and prioritise basic infrastructure.
It also promises integrated pre-trial services, more police and courts, a reversal of legislation ”disarming law-abiding citizens”, and special youth teams to remove graffiti.
Under education it puts the focus strongly on values, promising to restore the independence of school bodies in setting curricula, staff appointments and religious ethos. Life skill programmes will be rewritten to exclude the current ”promotion of abortion, licentious and experimental sex and other deviant sexual lifestyles”.
The manifesto ends by reminding voters that ”the party stands for Christian principles, freedom of religion, a free-market economy, family values, community empowerment and human rights in a federal system”.