Analysis of the African National Congress election lists, published recently, indicates that the party has purged several mayors implicated in corruption and of towns hit by unrest over poor service delivery.
Serving mayors have been dumped in Delmas, Matjhabeng (Welkom), Govan Mbeki municipality (Secunda) and Mpumalanga’s Gert Sibande district municipality, all hit by upheavals in recent months. Other casualties are Rustenburg mayor Thabo Mabe, embroiled in controversy over extravagant perks of office, and the mayor and speaker of Mangaung (Bloemfontein), Pappi Mokoena and Zongezile Zumane, arrested for alleged corruption and fraud.
The ANC’s election manifesto pledges to weed out all corrupt councillors and council officials. But, the ANC has not responded to popular concerns in all areas. In some instances, candidates facing criminal charges, or with other skeletons in their cupboards, have found their way on to the lists.
- Werner Schwella, the Democratic Alliance secretary who controversially accepted German fugitive Jurgen Harksen’s donation, sparking a political funding row, is back in his Cape Town ward as an ANC candidate, as well as being placed 44th on the proportional representation (PR) list.
- Mayor of Free State council Maluti-a-Phofung, Balekile Mzangwa, on whose watch the Harri-smith service delivery protests erupted 18 months ago, is still the top-listed candidate there.
- Ruth Ntshulana-Bhengu, the ANC MP forced to resign over Travelgate, has made it into first place on the PR list for Ugu District Municipality. With the party’s push for gender equity, she stands a good chance of becoming mayor.
- The ANC’Ss number one PR candidate in Rustenburg, current council speaker Elizabeth Seduke, has been charged with intimidation and extortion in the Rustenburg Regional Court. She claimed this week to be the victim of a ”plot”. She appeared in court on July 20 last year, but was released on bail.
- In the Western Cape’s Bitou (Plettenberg Bay) municipality, mayor Lulama Mvimbi and five councillors involved in a long-standing controversy over use of council money for overseas trips, resulting in the laying of criminal charges by the Democratic Alliance, are back on the list.
Last week, ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe indicated that up to 60% of councillors would not return, and the ANC lists reflect a clean-up of PR councillors and large-scale turnover of ward candidates. Johannesburg is an obvious exception. Besides a handful of newcomers, executive mayor Amos Masondo returns with the same team in a move interpreted as a vote of confidence in the city.
Also listed in the top spot are Cape Town executive mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, the only woman among the six metropole leaders; Ekurhuleni executive mayor Duma Nkosi; and eThekwini (Durban) executive mayor Obed Mlaba.
However, Tshwane executive mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, seen as damaged by local party infighting, dropped to fourth behind speaker Khorombi Dau. Only four of his nine-strong mayoral committee are back.
Nelson Mandela executive mayor Nceba Faku is off the list. He is heading to the private sector.
Heading the list is Bicks Ndoni, a trade unionist who rose through the student and civic organisation ranks, while deputy mayor Charmaine Willimans is second.
Large-scale changes to the mayors’ posts are on the cards in the Western Cape, 10 months after the election of a new ANC leadership under James Ngculu and secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha. New names top the lists for Stellenbosch, Paarl, Saldanha and Beaufordt West, where Central Karoo district mayor Doreen Hugo’s support of controversial Truman Prince cost her nomination.
In the Eastern Cape’s King Sabatha Dalindyebo council (Mthatha), wracked by political instability since the ANC took it over from the United Democratic Movement, mayor Delarey Mkatshwa lingers in fifth spot.
In Mangaung, acting mayor Eva Moilwa has returned at number four of a list headed by Ralebese Mahlomola, who has served as councillor since the mid-1990s.
Polokwane mayor Thabo Makunyane has survived in first place, but three of his mayoral committee members have not. A number of PR councillors are now taking their chances in wards.
Similarly, Sol Plaatje (Kimberley) mayor Patrick Lenyibi rose above hard lobbying to keep first spot, alongside five previous councillors. But, only three of 28 ward councillors have returned.
Despite the ANC’s commitment to gender equity, Buffalo City (East London) speaker Zukisa Faku-Hobana has dropped off the list, while Sister Bernard Ncube has been dumped as mayor of the West Rand district council in favour of a man.
Research Survey director Neil Higgs said removing councillors who have failed to make things happen could boost voter enthusiasm.
”If you are hiding behind the party machine, it may not work on this occasion,” he said. While three-quarters of respondents in a recent survey believed in voting, ”an alarming” 41% said they did not feel like doing so.
- Cape Town’s third-biggest party, the African Christian Democratic Party, is out of the running in the city after failing to pay a R3 000 election deposit. The Independent Electoral Commission decided on Thursday that it would not accept a late deposit.
Coming soon, to a lamp post near you
The Democratic Alliance wishes it was one flier, one vote, writes Marianne Merten. It plans to push two million pamphlets and 80 000 posters under the noses of Capetonians before March 1 — many underscoring the need to win back a city lost during the 2002 floor-crossing.
The blitz forms part of a national DA campaign involving 500 000 posters, with slogans hopefully proclaiming ”For all the people” and ”The DA delivers”, and the distribution of 10-million pamphlets in all official languages.
In Cape Town, poster messages like ”Take back your city” and ”Bly getrou [stay faithful]” resound strongly with coloured and white voters, according DA market research.
The African National Congress is coy about how many posters and pamphlets it plans to thrust on an unsuspecting public — ”a lot”, was the response.
In Cape Town, it has taken billboards at strategic road and rail locations, while electioneering also includes an SMS and 086 share-call service.
From Monday posters of ANC candidates, who are contesting almost all the country’s 3 800 wards, will be sent to local areas. Branches are also promised ”hundreds of thousands” of ANC posters urging voters to ”make local government work better” (presumably by voting for the party).
Behind the scenes, a 450-strong ANC canvassing team is pounding Cape Town’s streets, in addition to ward election squads. Officials are keeping mum about other possible posters, but an electrifying ”Vote ANC” placard is anticipated closer to polling time.
The Independent Democrats are nowehere to be seen, but a special poster launch is planned for Cape Town next week. The ID has been hard at work reconceptualising its image. The poster colour remains orange, the slogan: ”More voice for your vote”, the same as in the 2004 elections, ”for continuity’s sake”.
Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Mulder already smiles ingratiatingly from posters mysteriously proclaiming the FF+ ”More than just an opposition” (A revolutionary movement? Great white hope? What exactly is the sub text?) Posters of Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi or the party logo (both guaranteed drawcards, as recent elections illustrate) will start spreading from KwaZulu-Natal in English and Zulu.
Posters are currently limited to major city thoroughfares. But beware! From next week, no further escape will be possible. Parties pledge that posters will be coming right to your street, and the pamphlets to your postbox.
