The African National Council will announce its mayoral candidates after the May 18 polls, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday.
However, there was consensus among the alliance partners — the ANC, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) — for Tony Ehrenreich to be mayoral candidate for Cape Town after his candidacy was “sprung” on the ANC by its labour ally.
“The officials and the provincial secretaries reaffirmed the long-standing practice of announcing the mayoral candidates after the election,” Mantashe journalists in Johannesburg.
“We don’t think the individual mayors are the brands … the ANC is the brand.”
New contestation
The ANC in Gauteng was set to announce its candidates on Tuesday, but backtracked at the last minute.
Mantashe was speaking after a meeting of the ANC’s top six leaders; President Jacob Zuma, his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy secretary general Thandi Modise, chairperson Baleka Mbete and treasurer general Mathews Phosa.
It was agreed there would be “no value” in naming the ruling party’s mayoral picks now as it could lead to “new contestation” in the provinces.
The ANC controlled some 200 of the country’s 283 municipalities. According to the ANC constitution, mayors are allowed to serve two terms. Those who had served their twin terms would be replaced after May 18.
The selection of ANC candidates resulted in protests in various provinces and the party being hauled before court eight times in the Eastern Cape. The frustration over the lists resulted in some members opting to stand independently in the upcoming election.
Mantashe said these candidates had “defined themselves outside the ANC”.
“If you are independent and you have not withdrawn yourself by today … you put yourself in the position where you campaign against the ANC,” he said.
Media matters
Mantashe criticised the media, saying it had taken on the role of the main opposition ahead of the local government polls.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi’s recent comments on corruption did not help the ANC’s election campaign, he said.
Vavi recently called for a probe into reported allegations that Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka had misused state funds. Vavi said Shiceka should be fired if the allegations were true. Mantashe said Vavi’s comments were “pre-emptive”.
The media’s “opposition” role was illustrated by a story on an alleged plot by senior ANC leaders to oust President Jacob Zuma at the party’s elective conference next year. The ANC again questioned the timing of the report, saying the journalist who penned the story admitted it was based on information collected before the ANC’s national general council in September last year.
Malice notwithstanding
While the party dismissed the report as untrue, Mantashe said there was nothing “malicious” about campaigning for an elective conference.
“I think the formal description of an elective conference as a plot is the depth of hatred for democracy,” he said.
“I see nothing malicious about campaigning in the run-up to an elective conference. It’s not a plot; it’s elections.”
The ANC denied a meeting had taken place in Estcourt to plan Zuma’s demise, saying some of those named in the story did not even know where Estcourt was in KwaZulu-Natal. The report fingered ANC national executive council member Tokyo Sexwale and its treasurer general, among others.
Mantashe quipped that the pair were “veteran plotters”, but remained in the ANC. — Sapa