Political parties finalise candidate lists ahead of electoral commission deadline

The ANC confirmed that it met the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) Monday deadline to submit its list of candidates to represent the party in the upcoming local government elections and possibly hold key positions across the country’s junk-rated municipalities.

The party’s national executive committee (NEC) held an extended meeting at the weekend to approve the list for the polls scheduled for end-October. The selection processes come amid reports that the party’s dwindling finances and infighting in branches and regions would make it miss the IEC’s deadline on Monday.

“The ANC has met the IEC deadline and submitted its 10,000 candidates for the upcoming local government elections,” ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said.

ANC deputy secretary general, Jessie Duarte said on Monday that the list is not final and is subject to change. This is as the party conducts investigations into allegations that some candidates on the list are ineligible to contest for the elections because they have been requested by the party to step aside following the conclusion of criminal cases against them.

“We wouldn’t mind having a review if there are opportunities to do so. If so, this is our final list,” she said at a briefing.

PAYMENTS

The IEC initially set the deadline for 5pm on Monday but changed it to 9pm to allow parties and candidates to finalise their registrations. Failure to make the necessary payments for election deposits would result in the automatic disqualification of the party or independent candidate affected.

“You’ve got a lot of political parties and independent candidates that are joining this process for the first time... We wanted to make sure that we give political parties reasonable time to complete their processes,” IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said.

Elections are scheduled for October 27 but may be postponed to 2022 should the Constitutional Court rule in favour of the IEC to have the polls deferred.

The DA fielded five mayoral candidates on Monday to contest SA’s metros where coalitions are expected to take centre stage similar to 2016 when the party struck deals with other opposition parties after the vote, which helped it place mayors in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.

The opposition party is seeking to renew its public image after a tumultuous period following on the exit of former leader Mmusi Maimane, as well as its dismal performance during the 2019 elections when support dropped from 27% in the municipal polls in 2016 to 20.7%.

The party has also lost several other prominent members since the previous elections, including former mayor of

Johannesburg Herman Mashaba who went on to form his own party, Action SA, and former mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille, who heads the Good Party and is also minister of public works & infrastructure.

EXODUS

DA leader John Steenhuisen brushed off concerns that the mass exodus of those prominent members of the party could dent its performance in the 2021 elections, saying their exit “says more about them than it says about us”.

“We did a serious amount of introspection. We had an internal report that looked and laid bare where we went wrong... We are well on the way of putting 2019 behind us,” he said at a media briefing.

DA MP Geordin Hill-Lewis will be the party’s candidate for Cape Town, the party’s traditional stronghold. In Tshwane, the current mayor Randall Williams is its candidate while Refiloe Nt’sekhe is the candidate for Ekurhuleni.

Mpho Phalatse, who served under Mashaba as health MMC will run in the Johannesburg contest. Nqaba Bhanga is the mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay.

Unlike the DA, the ANC does not publicly announce its mayoral candidates before voters cast their ballots.

The IFP confirmed on Monday that it had submitted its candidate list to the IEC ahead of the deadline.

“We respect the rule of law and will abide by whatever the Constitutional Court [decides]. We are, however, confident that our case — and well-substantiated arguments for a postponement of the 2021 LGE [local elections] — will resonate,” party spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said.