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There is a 60% chance that your ANC councillor could be the same person after the party’s national list conference this weekend.
This is according to a report ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was expected to present before the national, provincial and regional delegates attending the meeting in Tshwane, Gauteng.
However, the list was expected to be contested by the delegates before being finalised by the ANC national executive committee – which was due to start immediately after the conference. The final outcome, of who becomes the face of the party in key economic hubs in the August 3 elections, was expected on Monday.
The Ekurhuleni metro in Gauteng topped the list with at least six names being lobbied to succeed mayor Mondli Gungubele after heated discussions at the regional list conference last week and the regional executive committee on Monday.
At the regional list conference, attended by branch delegates, ANC regional chairperson and deputy minister of trade and industry Mzwandile Masina got 48 nominations, deputy regional secretary Petrus Mhlari came second with 47 nominations, and Ekurhuleni member of the mayoral committee for environment Ndosi Shongwe came third with 30 branch nominations.
However, on Monday, the tables turned on Mhlari and Shongwe when the Masina-dominated regional executive committee opted for Nomadlozi Nkosi as second and regional treasurer Thokozani Nciza as third.
Those sympathetic to Mhlari claim that lies had been spread among party members that he was anti President Jacob Zuma.
However, the decision was expected to be ratified by the Gauteng ANC executive under Paul Mashatile’s chairmanship, which has considered moving provincial health MEC Qedani Mahlangu to replace Gungubele in Ekurhuleni.
“The move will create room for Mondli to become an MEC because he is too senior for his current post,” an Ekurhuleni ANC regional leader told City Press.
In Tshwane, a regional list conference was aborted this week after it turned chaotic. It was expected to choose between Tshwane mayor and ANC regional chairperson Sputla Ramokgopa against his deputy, Mapiti Matsena, and rising star Kgosi Maepa – a close ally of Premier David Makhura.
However, a regional executive committee meeting on Thursday identified Matsena as the leading candidate, followed by Karin Littler and regional leader Susan Ngobeni in third place.
Those opposed to Ramokgopa claimed he was using his mayoral post “to promote himself”, but Ramokgopa’s backer said Mashatile could still bring him back somehow.
The name of Thoko Didiza also surfaced as the potential mayoral candidate for Tshwane, according
to a senior Gauteng government official with allies in Luthuli House.
Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau led the race for the mayoral post after branch nominations, receiving more than 30 nominations – at least seven more than second candidate and municipal spokesperson Jolidee Matongo and speaker Connie Bapela, with 21 nominations.
Former deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi has also been lobbied to take over from Tau. However, ANC insiders in Gauteng said the move would disrupt plans for mayoral committee member for finance Geoff Makhubo to succeed Tau in 2021.
But it is the small Midvaal municipality in Gauteng’s Sedibeng region that the ANC is gunning for. Taking power from the DA in Midvaal will be a psychological victory for the party.
City Press heard that the DA was retaining mayor Bongani Baloyi as its candidate, while the ANC has left the decision open. The ANC’s long-term strategy is to have Midvaal incorporated into the new Vaal metro, to become the fourth metro in Gauteng and the ninth in the country.
Meanwhile, former ANC Youth League deputy president Andile Lungisa is among the ANC’s candidates for mayorship in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. Although SA Football Association boss Danny Jordaan has the post secure after being seconded by Luthuli House to turn around the ailing metro, his authority was still being questioned within ANC structures.
In Cape Town the ANC has all but surrendered power to the DA and is yet to name its mayoral candidate. The DA has nominated incumbent Patricia de Lille.
