The battle over the ANC’s mayoral candidacy in Johannesburg appears far from over as two factions remain at loggerheads over who should become mayor of the City of Gold.
This week, the Mail & Guardian reported that the regional executive committee (REC) nominated regional chairperson Loyiso Masuku as the sole candidate.
This means incumbent mayor Dada Morero was excluded from the list submitted to Luthuli House for interviews for the mayoral position.
Amid concerns about the possible leaking of the other shortlisted names, the REC resolved that the regional office bearers (ROBs) deliberate on the candidates. Those reportedly under consideration include Nhlanhla Lux, Reverend Frank Chikane, Chichi Maponya and Jabu Moleketi.
Sources in the ANC Women’s League Regional Task Team in Johannesburg confirmed to the M&G that the regional veterans’ league and women’s league nominated Morero, Eunice Mgqina and Nomya Mnisi.
On Wednesday, the chairperson of the veterans’ league in Johannesburg, Meisi Maluleke, said they did not want to disclose whom they had nominated but they had selected a candidate they believed would do the job.
“I cannot disclose that. I’m a veteran; we love them all but we cannot disclose [the names],” she said.
However, the outcome has sparked broader debate in Morero’s camp amid allegations that the nomination process was not applied consistently across all structures. In some instances, decision-making might have shifted away from REC-level deliberations, raising concerns about the uniformity and integrity of the process.
Morero’s camp is demanding that the process be left to REC members to decide whom they want and to vote on those names, rather than allowing the ROBs to determine which names should be considered.
Insiders in Morero’s camp believe that the names submitted to Luthuli House for consideration favour Masuku because the other candidates are unlikely to be interested in taking up the mayoral position.
A senior ANC source said the established practice was for REC meetings to receive nominations, deliberate on a broader pool of candidates and then vote to narrow the field to three names. Those names would be processed through provincial oversight structures before being submitted to the national leadership.
The source said the provincial task team (PTT), which was tasked with overseeing compliance with the process, had not always been present, raising concerns about the consistency of oversight.
“The PTT is supposed to oversee the process, provide the ballot papers and ensure the three highest-scoring candidates are selected through a proper vote,” the source said.
“But in some instances, that process did not unfold as it should have.”
On Wednesday, a source in Morero’s camp said they would be filing a complaint with the party’s electoral committee, headed by Kgalema Motlanthe. The source said the process used to finalise the names for submission to Luthuli House had been unfair. Morero’s allies were demanding that it be rerun.
The M&G understands that in Tshwane, the process was restarted after complaints were raised about how it had been conducted. The publication further understands that regional chairperson Bonzo Modise declined to make himself available as the party’s mayoral candidate.
On Wednesday, a source in the electoral committee told the publication that it had not received any disputes from the ANC in Johannesburg but any complaints received would be considered. The source said the Johannesburg list should have been submitted on Tuesday but the committee was waiting for it. They added that the lists were being handled by national officials and the committee would receive only a report requesting it to vet the candidates under consideration.
The source said the only complaint received concerned the process in Tshwane, where the committee had ordered a rerun.
“The disputes came from the regional treasurer and four other REC members, who argued that there had been no meeting of the regional office bearers and no REC meeting to nominate mayoral candidates. They also complained that two candidates who had made it onto the first list, did not qualify in terms of certain criteria.”
An REC member aligned with Masuku’s camp said that apart from Masuku, the names submitted to Fikile Mbalula were not individuals actively involved in the ANC’s day-to-day factional battles.
The source said anyone raising such a complaint was being disingenuous.
“The ROBs did not sit and decide among themselves which names should be selected. REC members submitted names, so anyone who had candidates they wanted to nominate had that opportunity.
“The decision on which of the submitted names should form our final candidate list was one that the REC said should be taken by the ROBs. Based on those submissions, the ROBs then made a decision.”
The faction perceived to be aligned with Morero has argued that excluding him from the list of candidates was deliberate and motivated by factional interests.
“They can say that and it is fair for them to say that. I would make the same assumption if I were in their shoes. The reason the ROBs did not include anyone from their faction was because they believed Dada would not help us win elections in Johannesburg.
“In the entire REC of 27 members, Dada has the support of about five members. If we were to vote, only those members would support his nomination. Let them appeal to Kgalema Motlanthe so that he can nullify our process as he did in Tshwane and then we will see what happens.”
The source said that even if the matter were put to a vote among REC members, Morero would not be nominated.
“These comrades should be happy with how the ROBs handled it. It was done in a dignified way. There was no media campaign vilifying him for not being nominated. If they wanted to embarrass him, they could have leaked the information when the decision was made. This only came out a month after the meeting took place on 11 May.”
Another source in Masuku’s camp said the REC had resolved that the ROBs should oversee the process to prevent the names from being leaked to the media. Had the three names been finalised during the REC meeting, they said, they would probably have appeared in the media before being submitted to the office of the secretary-general.
The source acknowledged that The ROBs might have considered Morero’s name because it had been submitted by some REC members. The source said those who believed the process was flawed should approach the electoral committee.
“The REC appreciated the fact that if we had dealt with this matter in a way that required voting, we would have ended up like Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, where people simply nominate one another without considering why the NEC adopted the position that the national office bearers must first deal with the matter.
“Second, the national office bearers adopted the view that we should look beyond those leading the ANC and identify the best possible candidates who can help us recover lost ground. REC members were allowed to make their own recommendations to the ROBs.
The ROBs then considered those submissions and finalised the other two names. “The one name that all of us agreed on, without any objection, was Loyiso Masuku.”