POLITICAL tensions were high at the weekend as political parties finalised their lists of candidates for Local Government Elections ahead of the Independent Electoral Commission’s Monday deadline for submission of candidate names.
Political parties and independent candidates intending to contest the Local Government Elections scheduled for 27 October 2021 have until the end of business on Monday to submit their nominations and prescribed election deposits to the IEC.
Already, the compilation of ANC lists has led to a spate of political assassinations in certain provinces, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, with an ANC member shot dead in Tshwane last Wednesday after an argument broke out over how the candidate list should be compiled at a ward in Nellmapius, Pretoria.
On Sunday, disgruntled ANC members from the Moretele region in the North West also picketed outside Luthuli House in Johannesburg, Gauteng.
They said they were unhappy about the candidate lists presented for the upcoming local government elections at the party’s Special National Executive Committee (NEC) for adoption.
This came as ANC deliberated issues of candidate lists on the second day of its virtual Special (NEC) meeting to approve the final list of ANC ward and proportional list candidates.
On Sunday, ANC Deputy Secretary-General, Jessie Duarte, said the party would submit its candidates list for local government elections on time before IEC deadline on Monday.
Duarte said so far the party had identified almost 10 000 candidates and provinces busy finalising list before adoption by Extended NEC.
ANC factions in ANC Greater Johannesburg region were divided on who should be the next mayoral candidate for the City of Joburg.
A faction aligned to the late former mayor Geoff Makhubo is pushing for MMC for Corporate and Shared Services for the City of Joburg, Loyiso Lugayeni-Masuku, as the next female mayoral candidate for the metro.
Lugayeni-Masuku is currently leading the candidate list for Johannesburg after the death of Makhhubo, who was at the top of the nomination list for ANC public representatives.
While the nomination put Masuku at a pole position to become Joburg’s first female executive mayor, a faction aligned to the regional secretary of Johannesburg, Dada Morero, is understood to be positioning current MMC for Finance Matshidiso Mfikoe as the next mayor. Mfikoe is number seven on the list.
Some within Makhubo’s faction prefer ANC deputy regional chair and MMC for Social Development Eunice Mngcina, who is number 3 on the list to be the next mayor.
In Ekurhuleni, ANC regional chairperson Mzwandile Masina remains the preferred choice for mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni metro.
In the capital Tshwane, regional leader Kgoshi Maepa has emerged as the ANC’s preferred choice for the mayor of City of Tshwane after the local government elections.
In eThekhwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, the provincial ANC Women’s League launched an internal objection to the candidate list in the region, saying 70% of candidates were male clear violation of party’s policy on gender parity.
The league is also demanding a female candidate for the position of mayor of eThekhwini Municipality.
But ANC leaders in the region have argued that undermining the ‘will of the community’ was ‘dangerous’ and could lead to violent protests in future and divide communities.
Former chairperson of the ANC Youth League in the region, Thembo Ntuli, has emerged as one of the favourite candidates to lead the metro after the local government elections.
Ntuli, and other regional league members, were instrumental in bringing former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede to power as regional chairperson in December 2015.
“We acknowledge that 70% of candidates are male but this is the will of the community. Once you change their mandate and impose a candidate it could lead to unfortunate situations similar to the Thoko Didiza-situation in Tshwane a few years ago,” warned a regional leader.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is also expected to announce candidates for the top positions in the key metros of South Africa.
DA leader of the DA John Steenhuisen is expected to make the announcement on Monday of the candidates who will campaign to be elected to lead these key local governments for the next five years.
Party MP Geordin Hill-Lewis is tipped to become the party’s preferred choice for mayor of Cape Town.
The DA has picked Randall Williams as its mayoral candidate as they look for stability in the mayoral position of Tshwane in the new term following the resignation of Solly Msimango in February 2019 and that of his successor Stevens Mokgalapa exactly a year later in February 2020.
Williams is the current mayor of Tshwane.
In Johannesburg, the DA has put in Dr Mpho Phalatse, former member of the mayoral committee for health under the DA’s former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba.
In Ekurhuleni, the party has picked Refilwe Ntsekhe as its preferred candidate while in Nelson Mandela Bay the DA wants Nqaba Bhanga to continue serving there and has been in charge for several months now.
Bhanga is the mayoral candidate for the city.
ActionSA, on the other hand, has announced Herman Mashaba, Abel Tau, and Letlhogonolo Moseki as the party’s mayoral candidates for the three metros in Gauteng – Tshwane, Joburg and Ekurhuleni.
Mashaba is the favourite choice for mayor for the City of Joburg while Tau is the party’s preferred choice for the City of Tshwane mayor.
Tau believes he was a suitable candidate to improve the financial situation in Tshwane, especially after incumbent mayor recently announced that the City was bankrupt.
“The mayor of Tshwane recently confirmed that the City is bankrupt. We know that through the crime stats that Tshwane is the most unsafe city in the country. In fact, Tshwane has made it in the list of the most unsafe cities in the top 10 in the world,” he said.
Moseki is the party’s preferred choice for Ekhuruleni.
The GOOD party also announced its leader in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature, Brett Herron, as its mayoral candidate for the City of Cape Town.
The party made the announcement in Cape Town.
GOOD party leader Patricia De Lille has described Herron as a well-accomplished individual with whom she worked while she was the mayor of the city.
Meanwhile, judgment has been reserved in the IEC’s application to the Constitutional Court to postpone the local government elections.
The IEC, a number of political parties and civil society organisations made presentations to the apex court on Friday arguing for and against the deferment of the poll scheduled for 27 October 2021.
The IEC asked the Constitutional Court to grant a postponement of the 2021 local government elections after former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke compiled a report which found that it would not be possible hold free and fair elections due to Covid-19.
However, other parties such as the DA are arguing that holding the elections later than 1 November would contravene Section 159 of the Constitution, which says that elections must be held within 90 days after the term of a municipal council expires – which it does after five years.
They also argue that several countries around the world have held successful presidential and municipal elections despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inside Metros