‘Send top ministers to be mayors’

WELL-known cabinet ministers and high-profile politicians may be ordered to stand as mayoral candidates if the ANC adopts a new plan to boost its local election chances next year.

The party is bracing itself for the most fiercely contested municipal elections yet, with opposition parties such as the DA and EFF hoping to supplant it in several metros.

KwaZulu-Natal, the party’s biggest province in terms of membership, wants cabinet ministers and other high-profile ANC members to be redeployed to local governments as mayors as a way of keeping those municipalities under ANC control.

The proposal is set to be discussed at the ANC national general council next month.

If the proposal is adopted, party structures will follow the example of the troubled Nelson Mandela metro, which includes Port Elizabeth, where the ANC appointed soccer boss Danny Jordaan as mayor.

He was appointed after years of ANC factionalism that had weakened the party’s support among voters.

ANC KwaZulu-Natal secretary Sihle Zikalala said Jordaan’s appointment had shown the party how to save “this critical sphere of government”.

“Senior leaders should descend [to local government]. We will influence the NGC on this. We need to rescue local government, especially where we govern.

“We should move away from the approach that you need to be a councillor then become a mayor, then an MPL or MP. Local government cannot just be an entry level. In fact, that is where the organisation should demonstrate capacity in leadership and governance. We should take quality leaders from national to local level and not create sustained national careers,” said Zikalala.

Local government, he said, needed strong leaders with experience and expertise.

“Senior and experienced cadres of the movement have the expertise and the know-how in budgetary matters and legislation, which make them more ideally suited to serve at local level,” said Zikalala.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, Zikalala said, had not decided on the names of those it wants to stand as mayors in the province. But he added: “Just imagine [Telecommunications Minister] Siyabonga Cwele as the mayor of Hibiscus Coast [Port Shepstone] or [Home Affairs Minister Malusi] Gigaba as the mayor of Mandeni or Ilembe district.

“Why are we creating sustained national careers when in fact such calibre of leaders should be deployed close to our people?” he said.

Zikalala said the ANC had in the past deployed a former MP, Catholic priest Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, as Tshwane mayor.

And current Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele is a former Gauteng MEC.

However, given that the party has been showing signs of decline with every election, the redeployment strategy is clearly linked to a drive to keep the majority of metros and municipalities under its control.

The only metro in the hands of the opposition is Cape Town. Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille looks likely to be retained in the post next year. The DA has set its sights on the Nelson Mandela metro, where it plans to field MP Athol Trollip against Jordaan.

We need to rescue local government, especially where we govern