ANC top six to discuss candidates
Party’s integrity commission has compiled a report on electoral lists after heavy criticism over inclusion of controversial members
The ANC’s top six officials will meet on Monday to discuss a report compiled by the party’s integrity commission over its candidate lists, spokesperson Dakota Legoete says. The ANC has come under heavy criticism for its electoral lists
particularly the list of candidates who will take seats in the National Assembly in proportion to the party’s support come May 8.The list includes the names of controversial politicians such as Bathabile Dlamini, Malusi Gigaba, Mosebenzi Zwane and Nomvula Mokonyane, all of whom have been implicated in allegations of state capture or been found to have lied under oath.
The ANC’s top six officials will meet on Monday to discuss a report compiled by the party’s integrity commission over its candidate lists, says spokesperson Dakota Legoete.
The ANC has come under heavy criticism for its electoral lists particularly the list of candidates who will take seats in the National Assembly in proportion to the party’s support come May 8.
The list includes the names of controversial politicians such as Bathabile Dlamini, Malusi Gigaba, Mosebenzi Zwane and Nomvula Mokonyane, all of whom who have been implicated in allegations of state capture or been found to have lied under oath.
By the deadline for objections to party lists two weeks ago, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) had received 29 objections to the ANC’s lists, including to the candidacy of Mokonyane, Dlamini and ministers such as Zweli Mkhize, Angie Motshekga and Bheki Cele.
The commission did not uphold one of the objections.
Despite weeks of public disapproval, it was only on that day
April 2 that the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) announced it had referred the candidate lists to the party’s integrity commission. The commission had until then been unable to consider the lists because it needed a referral from the NEC.
On Sunday, City Press reported that the commission had submitted a list of 22 names
including those of Gwede Mantashe, an ally of President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Deputy President David Mabuza to the top six last week.
Legoete said on Sunday he could not confirm either the names or the content of the commission’s report, as he had not yet seen it, but confirmed that the top six would deal with the matter on Monday.
However, he said a special NEC meeting was not expected to be called, as the party was “deep in the campaign”.
Business Day reported previously that party members would be expected to resign voluntarily if found wanting by the integrity commission, as it was too late to change the lists.
The list woes are not the only issue troubling the party in the lead-up to the polls: the DA has blamed the ANC for inciting protests around the country ahead of the elections.
On Sunday the DA in Johannesburg repeated its allegations that the protests that have spread across the country after erupting in Alexandra more than a week ago were fuelled and sustained by the ANC.
The claim was amplified when Ramaphosa hit the election campaign trail on Thursday. He called on the metro and DA mayor Herman Mashaba to clean up Alexandra, before petitioning voters to support the ANC.
Gauteng, where the DA governs two metros in a coalition, is expected to be the main electoral battleground, as opposition parties hope to push the ANC below majority support.
According to DA leader Mmusi Maimane, protests have broken out in GaRankuwa, Mabopane, Pretoria West, Soshanguve, Winterveld, Orange Grove and Pennyville, Soweto in Gauteng, as well as in Khayelitsha, Lwandle, and Happy Valley, Blackheath, in the City of Cape Town.
Maimane said on Sunday the situation requires “urgent intervention”. He said police commissioner Khehla Sitole’s commitment to meet him on April 29 was simply “not good enough”.
“April 29 may be too late,” the DA leader said, adding that he would ask Sitole for a meeting within the next 48 hours.
Maimane said he would also ask for a meeting with IEC chair Glen Mashini to get an update on the complaint the DA had lodged with the electoral commission over the “shutdown” protests.
He said he would “seek reassurance” that the elections will go ahead on May 8.
Meanwhile, the presidency announced over the weekend that the presidential inauguration will take place at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on May 25.
THE DA HAS BLAMED THE ANC FOR INCITING PROTESTS AROUND THE COUNTRY AHEAD OF THE ELECTIONS