ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe has denied claims that he interfered in the by-election candidate selection process in the North West.
Mantashe’s comment comes after allegations of tribalism among ANC members in the Bojanala region came to light.
Some party members are blaming Mantashe and SACP provincial secretary, Madoda Sambatha, for the party’s recent loss in the Ward 45 by-election outside Rustenburg.
The allegations have enraged Mantashe and Sambatha, who say they cannot be held responsible for the by-election defeat.
They also denied saying the Batswanas were behind tribalism in the area.
Some regional party members say the alleged interference caused Ward 45, which has three voting districts, to be won by the Umkhonto weSizwe Party.
In the by-elections held over a week ago, MK received 1 047 votes. The ANC came in second place with 789 votes, and the EFF took third with 556 votes.
This infuriated some party members, who believed that if the process had been conducted correctly, the ANC could have emerged victorious.
Xhosa-speaking candidate nominated
“There is a process within the ANC. You choose three candidates, and then you take them to the community. These other Xhosa comrades brought in people who were not on the voter’s roll,” said an ANC member.
“They wanted a Xhosa candidate. We checked their names; they were not there. But the Xhosa-speaking candidate was nominated anyway.
“There was a dispute, and we requested a rerun or dispute resolution, but it never happened.”
Mantashe said the aggrieved party members should not blame him.
“That is a manufactured story. How do I interfere in a ward in Rustenburg? What are the bases?” he asked.
“Except that it is an attempt to say the Xhosas are interfering in the affairs of Batswana. I don’t know that candidate. I don’t know the ward.
“Tribalism is serious, but it must not be manufactured. I was a DDM [district development model] champion in Bojanala in the last five years.
I am not there now, and how do I just go back there? Why should it be me and Madoda actually?”
Sambatha claimed that the charges were made purely to further the agenda of “tribal chauvinists”.
Sambatha denies allegations
He said he was never involved nor aware of the candidates’ names until July 29.
That is when he showed up at Potsaneng to meet with the regional chairperson of the ANC and some elderly people he was supposed to speak to.
“On arrival, I met the VD [voting district] coordinator, who told me that they have a problem, that the community is not happy and will not vote for the ANC,” said Sambatha.
“I asked her what the problem was, and she said they [the community] say they will not vote for someone who is not from their area and is an outsider.
“She then explained who the people voted for in the community meeting.
“Once I heard this, I changed the approach to my address to deal with why the ANC was formed and its attitude towards tribalism.”
Sambatha claimed to have discussed calling off the alleged SACP campaign in the ward with ANC provincial secretary Loius Diremelo.
But according to Sambatha, Diremelo recommended moving forward with the campaign “because the ANC has not yet received any dispute on the candidate selection process”.
ANC Bojanala regional spokesperson Thabo Molamu did not answer his phone or return calls and messages sent to him.
