Mayors, like ministers, should not be named before an election, African National Congress President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
Asked on Metro FM why the ANC was not making public its choice of mayoral candidates before the March 1 local government election, Mbeki said the party had taken the position that it was better for people to vote first.
”The position we have taken with regard to this is that it is probably better to wait for the people to … to make a decision about how many ANC councillors there would be. You cannot know that, you can guess at it, but it is after the people voted that you know that. Therefore we are going to have so many councillors from the list we presented,” Mbeki said.
”Now that you know that … that these are the people that [were] actually elected, rather than speculating about it, it is only then that you look at your list to say who then among these people who now have been elected should be mayor,” he added.
”I mean, we do the same thing for the national government … Ministers are not announced before elections take place because you do not know what the outcome of elections are going to be … are you going to get 60% … are you going to get 70% … are you going to get less … and that gives you the basis for saying who will occupy what position.”
The ANC has been criticised for keeping its candidates for mayor confidential, with opposition parties saying it was tantamount to asking a customer to buy a product without seeing it.
The party has said that at least 50% of its mayors will be women — although media speculation is rife in Cape Town that mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo may not be reappointed should the ANC win the poll in the metropole next week.
Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile earlier this month said the move was necessary given that in-fighting could derail the party’s election campaign as candidates jostled for position.
”It is a good thing,” said Stofile, because ”people fight for positions these days. Instead of wasting our time to try and resolve the battles of aspiring candidates, we should focus our resources on the campaign,” he was quoted as saying. – Sapa