‘Dump Dukwana for jumping list’
An ANC member has accused the Free State speaker of flouting the Electoral Act after the party’s list was changed twice, resulting in Mxolisi Dukwana — and not Thandiwe Reachable — being sworn in as a provincial legislature member
The Free State legislature may have to rescind the swearing-in of the newly appointed cooperative governance MEC, Mxolisi Dukwana, after he was allegedly unfairly bumped up on the ANC’S legislature list.
Thandiwe Reachable and not Dukwana was next in line to be sworn-in on the ANC’S list, gazetted on 12 August, according to a legal letter by Mabuza Attorneys addressed to Zanele Sifuba, the speaker of the Free State legislature.
Reachable, the former mayor of Letsemeng local municipality, is demanding that Sifuba take steps to rescind Dukwana’s swearing-in within three days.
“Failing which, our client shall take appropriate steps to review and set aside the swearing-in of Mr Dukwana, and the costs of which shall be for the personal account of the speaker,” the letter stated.
This comes after the ANC twice within mere weeks changed its list to the Free State legislature.
In the 12 August list, the ANC submitted Reachable’s name. She was 20th on the first list while Dukwana was 29th.
But, on 16 September, the ANC submitted a second list of its candidates to the legislature, which was published in the Provincial Gazette on 23 September. Dukwana was moved from 29th position to 20th and Reachable to 22nd.
“We submit respectfully that the purported submission and acceptance of the second list by the legislature and/or the speaker is contrary to the provisions of item 21 read with item 22 of Schedule 1A of the Electoral Act,” the letter reads.
This is the second time the ANC has been accused of acting contrary to the Electoral Act.
In 2019, the party removed Limpopo’s Ponani Makhubele from the parliamentary list, prompting her to take the ANC to court. The courts found in her favour and ordered that she be placed back on the list.
After a year of delays, she was sworn in as an MP in January.
According to the Electoral Act, “a party may review its undepleted lists as supplemented within seven days after the expiry of the period, and annually thereafter, until the date on which a party has to submit lists of candidates for an ensuing election”.
The Act also states that lists of party candidates may be supplemented
on one occasion only, at any time during the first 12 months.
In the event of a vacancy in a legislature, the party with the vacating member must fill the vacancy by nominating a person whose name appears on the list of candidates.
A position in the legislature was opened after Patrick Buti resigned as an ANC member and the chairperson of chairpersons on 26 September.
“We submit respectfully that on the proper interpretation of the law, Reachable was supposed to have been sworn-in as an MPL following the resignation of Buti, she was the next in line as per the first list gazetted on 12 August 2021,” the letter reads.
Dukwana was quietly sworn in as a member of the legislature on 28 September.
In the same week, Free State Premier Sisi Ntomebela reshuffled her cabinet, appointing Dukwana as MEC of cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
She also removed Sam Mashinini from her cabinet, replacing him with William Bulwane as MEC for police, roads and transport. Mashinini is a close ally of suspended ANC secretary general Ace Magashule. Thembeni Nxangisa was also reshuffled to the portfolio of MEC for agriculture and rural development.
Mabuza Attorneys contend that the legislature and Sifuba committed several material errors of law and ought not to have accepted and published the second list in the Provincial Gazette. And that the legislature and Sifuba should have rejected the second list.
“The speaker and/or the legislature ought to have sworn-in Reachable as an MPL, having been the next in line following the resignation of Buti,” the attorneys said.
In May, the ANC’S national working committee took a step to further alienate Magashule from his province by appointing Dukwana — a Ramaphosa loyalist — to head the structure that will take the Free State to the ANC’S national elective conference in December 2022.
Some people in the party considered this one of several tactical moves by Ramaphosa in the past months, which resulted in Magashule’s supply of allies being cut and resulted in his temporary suspension.
Dukwana, a former provincial ANC treasurer, was part of Magashule’s inner circle until the relationship soured and he was fired from the then-premier’s cabinet in 2012.
Dukwana was rumoured to have been the man to succeed the nowsuspended secretary general, and would later run against Magashule, who was said to be ruling with an iron fist.
Magashule was at that stage the provincial chair of the ANC as well as the Free State premier.
Attempts by the Mail & Guardian to seek comment from the speaker and secretary of the legislature were fruitless. The ANC said it would send comments but these were not available at the time of publication.