ANC deputy secretary-general has blamed the ANC internal processes for the electoral drubbing that the former liberation movement is suffering at the metro municipalities across the country as IEC continues to count the votes of the November 4 polls.
Mokonyane was reacting to the emerging picture of an ANC that is on a continuous decline, with the CSIR predicting the party to end up with about 30% of the support nationally when counting is done.
According to Mokonyane, the delay in the list processes played a part in bringing about a campaign peak that was late.
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As for the ANC internal conferences that happened this year, Mokonyane believes that they should have been shelved to allow the local government polls campaign space to breathe.
“The delay in the list process also affected the timeframe of canvassing and going out to the voters, which is something that we will reflect on, including the conferences that went on and coincided with our election process. These are lessons to be learnt,” said Mokonyane at the national results operation centre in Midrand, Johannesburg.
List processes, internal conferences the convenient scapegoat
The ANC list processes were rocked by all sorts of controversies.
For the first time since adopting the policy of mayoral candidates, the ANC abandoned tradition of announcing a mayoral candidate for metros and secondary cities at the last minute.
Instead, the ANC came to these elections with all shortlisted candidates for each metro, with others such as Andile Lungisa of Nelson Mandela Bay getting removed from the list on the day of submission.
Lungisa dragged the ANC to court and won the case, with the court ordering his reinstatement into the list.
As if that was not bad enough, the ANC took IEC to the electoral court after it rejected to admit 181 of their candidates, claiming late submission.
The ANC lost at the electoral court but appealed to the apex court, where it won on the eve of the elections.
In their own internal conferences, Eastern Cape was the biggest headache for the ANC after its provincial conference was interdicted in March and for six months the party was almost leaderless in the so-called home of legends province.
An attempt to appoint a provincial task team was subjected to judicial review, taking matters from bad to worse.
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Mokonyane said the ANC was, however, not buried and would not disappear into oblivion as yet.
ANC looking for its Lula moment
In classic ANC denialism, Mokonyane said the ANC would bounce back in a manner similar to the Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
“Others must remember what happened in Brazil and what happened in Nicaragua. We are renewing ourselves; the struggle continues. Part of the work we did coming to the local government elections was part of the renewal of the ANC, where we took ourselves to the public,” said Mokonyane.
“Secondly, we do not believe that we should see ourselves as a party that will disappear in the struggles of our people. In fact, this gives us an opportunity to repackage and renew the ANC because renewal is ongoing; it is not timebound.
“The good thing about the campaign is that we invested more in going to the individual voter and talking to the voter.”
Mokonyane said glimpses of ANC resurgence were beginning to show in certain areas.
“The ANC is as yet to be condemned. What you see now, compared to 2024, is totally different,” she said.
She continued that ANC was open to talks with everyone and anyone, so long as it is within the confines of principles set out by the party.
- ANC deputy secretary-general has blamed the ANC internal processes for the electoral drubbing that the former liberation movement is suffering at the metro municipalities across the country as IEC continues to count the votes of the November 4 polls.
- Mokonyane was reacting to the emerging picture of an ANC that is on a continuous decline, with the CSIR predicting the party to end up with about 30% of the support nationally when counting is done.
- According to Mokonyane, the delay in the list processes played a part in bringing about a campaign peak that was late.
- Elections 2026 | DA leads in key metros, ActionSA takes early Tshwane lead As for the ANC internal conferences that happened this year, Mokonyane believes that they should have been shelved to allow the local government polls campaign space to breathe.
- “The delay in the list process also affected the timeframe of canvassing and going out to the voters, which is something that we will reflect on, including the conferences that went on and coincided with our election process.
