Selection of mayors triggers ANC succession race machinations

Johannesburg- The selection process of mayors by the ANC has exposed raging proxy battles ahead of provincial conferences that are going to prepare for the governing party’s elective conference in December next year.

Sunday World has established that the march to Luthuli House by members of the ANC in Vhembe region in Limpopo was part of the ongoing battle for the control of the province, which has become the second biggest in terms of membership.

Limpopo was going to be one of the key players that are going to influence the election of the party’s leader next year.

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The province has become a scene of a tussle between supporters of President Cyril Ramaphosa and those of the party’s suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule.

Magashule’s backers have organised themselves under the banner of the so-called Radical Economic Transformation (RET) forces.

On Friday, supporters of Vhembe mayor Dowelani Nenguda marched to the ANC Luthuli House headquarters in downtown Johannesburg after his name did not make the cut for the powerful post. Nenguda is aligned to Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who is one of Ramaphosa’s strong allies. Ntshavheni is Ramaphosa’s key campaigner in the province.

But forces close to Tshitereke Matibe, who is now aligned with Limpopo ANC treasurer Danny Msiza, have managed to dominate the lists of mayoral candidates for the Vhembe district municipality and the local municipalities falling under it (which include Thulamela, Collins Chabane and Makhado).

Matibe is the current chairperson of the ANC in the region while Nenguda is his deputy. The two have since fallen out.

The domination of mayoral candidates by Matibe’s supporters in the regional municipalities is seen as a boost for both Msiza and RET forces ahead of next year’s provincial conferences and national conference.

“The issue of mayors is going to consolidate the RET forces,” a source said.

ANC national executive committee members were divided into 25 panels to interview mayoral candidates this week.

Provinces had until Tuesday to interview three candidates from each of the country’s 257 municipalities.

According to a memorandum from ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, provincial executive committees were expected to adjust their lists from tomorrow in line with requirements for gender and youth representation and the principle of non-
racialism. Newly elected councils have until Thursday to convene their first sittings.

However, the mayoral selection process has been plagued by factional fights.

In Eastern Cape, Nelson Mandela funeral corruption accused Zukiswa Ncita is among the ANC panellists who were interviewing candidates.

Ncita was the executive mayor of the Buffalo City metro when she was charged with fraud, corruption, money-laundering and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act in relation to stolen monies  allocated to memorial services organised to mourn Madiba.

Political analyst Lukhona Mnguni said the inclusion of Ncita was scandalous.

“Picking individuals of suspicious character who still have serious charges hanging over them does take away from the seriousness of the process because you do not know their levels of judgement and morality registers, whether they are capable of producing the desired outcome linked to the criteria set by the ANC,” he said.

In Gauteng, a meeting of the provincial executive committee collapsed after the party’s Tshwane regional chairperson Kgosi Maepa failed to make the list of three mayoral candidates for the capital city.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the SACP has warned that the process of selecting candidates should be handled with care.

The party said it had noted regions were dragging their feet in submitting names of their preferred candidates, which would lead to the delay in constituting councils in some local municipalities.

“Except for eThekwini metro, comrades are refusing to submit their CVs as per the criteria. Some are not providing the interviewing panel with the
required qualifications.

“This is mainly because there has been an entrenched culture of alienating comrades who are educated … In some instances, they were referred to as ‘clever blacks’. Now this is coming back to bite the ANC with the new rules of engagements,” said SACP provincial secretary Themba Mthembu.