Committee chairperson Lorna Maloney says less influential ANC members who were supposed to be on the party list were bumped off it in favour of ANC municipal representatives who had been illegitimately parachuted into positions. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The North West provincial list committee (PLC) has sent a sharply worded letter ordering interim provincial committee (IPC) coordinator Hlomani Chauke to immediately remove ANC municipal representatives who got into local government through corrupt manipulation of the list.
In the letter dated 25 January, PLC chairperson Lorna Maloney accused provincial officials, extended IPC officials, interim regional committee (IRC) officials and members of the legislature of participating in a coordinated plan against “defenceless” members of the ANC under Chauke’s nose.
“We instead advise you, the extended IPC, the IRCs and all reporting to you to immediately remove without any form of remorse and unconditionally everyone of the ANC municipalities representatives who gained entry into the local government space through acts of malfeasance, corruption and lists manipulation. That would be the right thing to do, that will allow for history to remember you as a leader who availed leadership when it was a scarce commodity inside of the ANC,” Maloney said.
She added that less influential ANC members who were supposed to be on the party list were bumped off it in favour of ANC municipal representatives who had been illegitimately parachuted into positions.
“It is ill-advised for the ANC IPC to assume or dream that ours is a resolve not to touch any of the parachuted municipalities troikas — if found to have been deployed by whomever to any of the municipality troikas, the affected comrades will be removed, will face the ANC disciplinary measures and, were necessary will be charged for fraud and complicit to acts of corruption and malfeasance,” Maloney said.
She added that the PLC, a committee of elders, have been approached by ANC members complaining that the “manipulation vehicle” was now being steered towards influencing the outcomes of branch, regional and provincial conferences ahead of the party’s December national elective conference.
This, Maloney said, was being coordinated mostly by the same people who had been instrumental in manipulating outcomes ahead of last November’s local government elections.
“We are also informed that certain sectors of ANC members are deliberately denied access to either renewing or accessing the ANC membership so that the outcome is driven by corrupt appetite. We urge you to urgently intervene as this matter rests in your domain. We also commit availability in assisting the branch and the regional conferences to be seen to be fair and not factional,” she wrote to Chauke.
Confirming the existence of the letter, Maloney said Chauke and the IPC had continued to frustrate the committee in its work. This, she said, was communicated in a report handed to the ANC’s national electoral committee headed by Kgalema Motlanthe.
“Chauke is a member of the PLC because he is the coordinator. Whatever decisions are taken by the PLC are binding him. So whenever we have a meeting, we invite him but he decided not to honour our meetings. There is no way we can stop our work because he does not honour our meetings,” she said.
Chauke, on his part, accused the PLC of working independently of ANC structures. He denied any manipulation by the interim provincial committee, saying the IPC had no authority in community meetings. He added that the extended IPC was only involved in the selection of ward councillors when community meetings had not taken place.
The Mail & Guardian previously reported that party deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte had threatened to remove Chauke from his position, accusing him of misrepresenting candidate list guidelines for last year’s local government elections.
Duarte wrote that Maloney and Montlanthe had laid a complaint against Chauke about a letter he had sent to structures in the North West regarding electoral committee resolutions. She said Chauke’s letter was a misrepresentation of a meeting between the electoral committee, the interim provincial committee and the provincial list committee on 8 September.
“In view of this, I am writing to officially warn you that if there are any more mishaps, misrepresentation or failure to follow guidelines, we will have no choice but to suspend you as interim provincial committee coordinator of the North West,” Duarte wrote.
Chauke has been at loggerheads with the provincial list committee after it ordered a rerun of the council candidate selection. Chauke refused to do this, citing time constraints.
He has been accused by North West branches of manipulating the candidate selection process to install his allies in council positions.
In an interview with the M&G on Monday, Chauke said the provincial list committee had been pandering to branches and regions who wanted to manipulate the list process for their own gain.
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