ANC Regional Secretary Scara Njadayi says discrepancies in the party’s candidate lists for Makana need “intense political investigation because the municipality is a special case of national importance.
ANC Regional Secretary Scara Njadayi says discrepancies in the party’s candidate lists for Makana need “intense political investigation because the municipality is a special case of national importance.
This comes amid a growing outcry among some members who say the lists have been rigged. One senior member of the party said the debacle had caused ordinary members to lose hope in the integrity of the current leadership, and that it was tarnishing the name of the ANC.
The ANC held its list conference for the party’s Sarah Baartman region in Kirkwood last weekend, following its manifesto launch in Port Elizabeth on 16 April.
ANC Members in Makana expressed shock and outrage at the fact that in several wards, the names of popular candidates put forward in branch general meetings did not appear. Moreover, they said names of people not even nominated had mysteriously appeared in positions 1-3 for those wards.
A party insider described a litany of contraventions of the ANC’s own guidelines in ward candidate nominations and the disruption and intimidation of certain candidates at the branch meetings where candidates were nominated. Describing the abortive process as “corruption of the first order”, he says party muscle is using its political power to “extend its tentacles”.
“Having caused the collapse of Makana, they are now putting themselves back into political power,” the insider said.
“They are slamming the door on our fingers.
“The list conference was squandered,” said the source.
He said in the case of the Ward 7 nomination, a complaint had been sent to Calata House, the ANC’s provincial headquarters in King William’s Town.
“It was very clear that 75% of the people in the hall supported [a particular candidate],” the source said, claiming that students from a local educational institution had been recruited to disrupt the nomination meeting. “The other candidate was clearly defeated.”
Another party member claimed that in another case, the partner of one of the candidates had gone around the neighbourhood with a loudhailer, telling residents not to vote for his branch list rival.
Continuing through the ward nominations, the first source said Ward 3 residents had been very clear about their two choices, but neither had gone on to the list.
Manipulated
Other ward lists he said had been manipulated, or where the ANC guidelines had been ignored, were Ward 6, Ward 10, Ward 12 (Rhodes – he says the candidate is no longer a resident of Grahamstown) and Ward 13.
“Where is the integrity of this,” said the source. “Candidates are meant to be determined by the will of
the people.”
He said it was similar irregularities in the party lists that led to the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma inquiry following the 2011 local government elections.
Before the last local government elections in May 2011, the ANC announced a new process that allowed communities to select their candidates. Protests in some areas followed, after the names of several popular candidates failed to appear on the party’s candidate lists.
In the OR Tambo region, residents even demanded that the IEC reject the lists.
Collapse
The source also said nominations contravened the ANC’s own policy of gender parity and geographic spread (i.e. PR candidates should be from a spread of different wards).
He said many of those on the lists didn’t even qualify for the threshhold.
“A member must be nominated by at least three branches to make it on to the list,” the source said.
“The ANC has made a promise that the election of ward councillors is the business of the people. It’s not like the deployment of the President, which is strategic.
“This squandering of the political process will be used to count against the ANC in the long run,” the first source said.
Njadayi confirmed that several complaints had been brought to the attention of the party. He said while the ANC was extremely concerned about the
allegations, "we are an organisation that can resolve issues."
He said because of its history of collapse, Makana was an exceptional case of national importance.
"Makana has struggled to meet its debts, it has struggled to render services, it has been put under Section 154 and Section 139(b)," Njadayi said. "We have got to focus on finding solutions to the problems of Makana."
Njadayi said, however, that choosing popular candidates was not necessarily the best route.
"Makana has serious problems to solve," Njadayi said. "It doesn't help to choose candidates who are popular, but don't have the capacity to do the job properly."
Njadayi said while the final decisions on lists would be taken at the party's national list conference on 21-23 May, the ANC in the province has 16% discretion to rearrange the branch lists.
This, Njadayi said, included bringing in outsiders. He said because of Makana's special and urgent circumstances, the region was considering appealing that this 16% discretion be increased to allow for skilled, strategic candidates to be brought in.
Master lists
However, Njadayi is adamant that the errors in the lists currently under scrutiny have emanated from branch level, and were not part of the provincial process.
"We did receive some complaints regarding some names not appearing on master lists captured by the provincial officials," he said. "Also there are some people whose names are appearing in branches whose names were never proposed. We are dealing with this as an organisation.
"Some individuals not appearing on the lists claim to have been nominated in the branch general meetiings (BGM). We have to look at those BGM nomination forms plus the minutes of officials who presided over the nominations. We are attending to that.
"The lists are supposed to be the outcome of a democratic process and it is a matter that needs intense political investigation."
Njadayi said the investigation into the complaints would not delay the list process, however.
"The regional list committee must present the lists next week," he said. "We have already done our work and will present that to the regional leadership of the ANC."
