Hope Ntanzi|Published
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has confirmed that the party will not announce its final mayoral candidates before the November 4 local government elections, saying the decision rests with national officials and will depend on the election outcome.
With less than two weeks before voters go to the polls, the ANC is campaigning without announcing its preferred mayoral candidates for the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities.
Speaking at the ANC’s post-Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement reaction, Mbalula said the party was focused on campaigning and persuading voters to support its manifesto rather than promoting individual mayoral hopefuls.
“We are in the field, we are campaigning very hard, and that is it,” he said.
The ANC had initially been expected to announce its mayoral candidates in August but instead unveiled a shortlist of 42 potential candidates across the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities.
The party has now opted to keep its final choices under wraps until after the elections.
The shortlists included Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero, Johannesburg regional chairperson Loyiso Masuku and ANC veteran Reverend Frank Chikane, while eThekwini’s potential candidates included incumbent mayor Cyril Xaba, deputy mayor Thabani Nyawose and former KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
Mbalula said the ANC had completed its interviews and shortlisting process, but the final decision would be made after voters had gone to the polls.
“There’s nothing wrong with people having ambitions to become mayor, to be considered, but it starts first by winning. By winning a vote,” he said.
National officials to make final decision
Mbalula stressed that the authority to decide who would become mayor rested with the party’s national officials, not regional structures.
“The mayorship issue is with the national officials. It’s not with the region. Region has submitted. We have interviewed people. We’re done. We’ve shortlisted and then that is it,” he said.
He said the people shortlisted had the potential to lead municipalities, but the final choices would depend on the election results.
“Any of those people who were raised as candidates and all of that have the potential and the capability to become a mayor in any city. And the officials will take that particular decision post the election, depending on the outcome,” he said.
Referring to Johannesburg, Mbalula said national officials could decide whether Masuku or Chikane was the right person for the position.
“If the officials decide Loyiso Masuku or Chikane is the right mayor, that’s the decision. That would have been taken,” he said.
Mbalula warns against chasing positions
Mbalula also warned ANC members against prioritising leadership positions before convincing voters to support the party.
“There is everything wrong for an ANC member and cadre to chase a position that you don’t know whether you will get or not get,” he said.
“You have to convince the people about the manifesto and why it is important to vote for the ANC before a position.”
He said party members had been cautioned to focus on door-to-door campaigning and engaging voters rather than lobbying for particular mayoral candidates.
Mbalula also declined to comment on reported remarks by ANC members about who should become mayor, saying he had not been present when the comments were made.
“I was not there, and I don’t know comrades were saying those things in what context. And I don’t want to comment on things that I did not hear,” he said.
Mbalula said the ANC’s national officials would decide on its final mayoral candidates after the November 4 local government elections, depending on the outcome.
hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za
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