ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula has insisted that he will not resign voluntarily after his detractors called for his head because of the party's failure to submit all its councillor candidates to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, Mbalula told journalists that the party had submitted all its councillor list but the IEC captured 97% of it.He said 3% of the list was submitted to the IEC but was not captured because of technical glitches.
The provinces affected were the Eastern Cape, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.
Mbalula's detractors in the party have called for a special national executive committee (NEC) to deal with him. They believe he is to be blamed for the party's failure to submit their lists. Others have demanded he resign.
"If I did something wrong, I will be the first to admit it. If the ANC says steps must be taken because I'm wrong, that will be the decision of the ANC. It's not my decision. I'm not defending myself," Mbalula said.
“It is strange that even before you get the report, even from the … [ANC electoral committee chair Kgalema Motlanthe] that you call for someone’s head. It is no longer objective. It shows your true colours and you go around lobbying people in the NEC."
He said that if he had submitted the list without consultation, some of those criticising him would have called for more: "I would be dead; that's when the question of resignation would hold.”
Mbalula said that being a secretary-general meant that “when things are nice” he was praised but the converse was also true — everyone blamed him when things went wrong.
He said that even though his office had done good work, he would be hounded about the lists issued.
Mbalula said some in the party were using the list issues as a campaign tool. They were the same people who projected the ANC as inefficient, unorganised and chaotic.
They were working hard to register victory for the ANC but others were looking at it “in political goggles” and wondering what if the party failed.
"This will be a reflection of our leadership — that during our term we did not do well,” Mbalula said, cautioning against laxity.