Revolt at Mbalula’s door over list mess

A candidate-list crisis spanning at least three provinces has put ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula in the firing line before the local government elections.

Sunday World has learnt that elements in the ANC national executive committee want Mbalula held personally accountable for overseeing a list process that could see the governing party not contesting key wards in its strongholds around the country.

They plan to force a discussion about his leadership onto the agenda at the next NEC meeting. The backlash follows allegations that the ANC submitted incomplete lists in parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

It blamed a technical glitch, an explanation rejected by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), which has ruled out reopening its nomination system. In a post on social media platform, X, ANC heavyweight Mondli Gungubele described the party’s failure as an embarrassment.

“The failure to submit municipalities and a set of candidates to the IEC is a scandalous incident that cannot be joked about. As leadership, if we cannot be embarrassed by this, we aren’t worth the idea.”

Those leading the charge against Mbalula say the debacle is linked to his ambitions to succeed President Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president in December 2027.

contest municipalities to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as a serious embarrassment and organisational failure.

“The failure to submit municipalities and a set of candidates to the IEC is a scandalous incident that cannot be joked about. As leadership, if we cannot be embarrassed by this, we aren’t worth the idea.”

Those leading the charge against Mbalula claim the debacle is linked to his ambitions to succeed President Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president in December 2027.

“He has his hands everywhere, oiling his machinery for the 2027 elective conference, and manipulated everything to suit his agenda,” a senior NEC leader said.

“At the next NEC meeting, a motion to discuss his incompetence must be forced onto the agenda.  Even if we lose, placing it on the agenda will shine a spotlight on his shenanigans,” the NEC member said.

The ANC boss has, however, defended his handling of the process. Addressing a Women’s League rally in Ebony Park, Mbalula said, “Choosing councillor candidates is not as easy a job; you’d think you are done, and some comrades would lodge disputes claiming they were hard done because their favourites did not make the cut.”

“I’m the secretary-general; I’m the first stop of everyone who wants to blame someone, but I’m unfazed; it comes with the job,” he went on.

“November 4 is our Damascus moment as the ANC; it’s either we go down or we rise again, and I believe we will rise again. They say, “What kind of boss is this Mbalula who cannot submit a complete list of candidates? Those are nonsensical people who do not know what they are talking about,” he added.

Speaking on the campaign trail in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, on Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa not rule out possible legal action to resolve the impasse.

Accounts from ANC leaders in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal suggest the party failed to register candidates in several municipalities, potentially shutting it out of contests in areas it has long dominated.

The Eastern Cape appears hardest hit, with municipalities in OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo, Amathole and Joe Gqabi reportedly affected.

An Eastern Cape provincial executive committee member sounded the alarm in a leadership group chat after learning that several lists might not have been registered.

“Late yesternight we were informed about a glitch that led to some ECs not being registered. The whole lists of Ngquza Hill and PSJ, both PR and wards, PR lists of Walter Sisulu and Sundays River,” the message reads.

“This is a calamity, comrades, to the ANC nationally and EC. A couple of comrades are removed from lists. That means lists that were approved by the extended PEC and NEC have been manipulated at the point of registration.”

An ANC leader in Walter Sisulu Local Municipality said the party should acknowledge the failure and decide which alternative candidates its supporters should back.

“This thing is not going to be resolved. You heard the leadership of the IEC, and we did so much hard work in this region only for it to end like this, with the non-submission of candidates,” the leader said.

“Realistically, we must decide which is the lesser evil and tell our voters and supporters who to back because it looks like we won’t have candidates on November 4.”

Easter Cape ANC secretary Lulalama Ngcukayitobi wrote a scathing letter to Mbalula this week, sharply challenging the secretariat office over the ANC’s handling of its candidate submissions, and demanding clarity on exactly what was submitted, by whom and when.

He rejected any attempt to shift responsibility for the electoral blunder to the province.

In KwaZulu-Natal, ANC leaders told Sunday World the party had failed to submit any proportional-representation candidates

Mawande Amashabalala, Queenin Masuabi