Fears of a ‘new COPE’ sneaking in to snatch Nelson Mandela Bay
FORGET the opposition, the ANC is worried that its own comrades may turn against it and hand Nelson Mandela Bay to its political rivals.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane is concerned about disgruntled party councillors and branch leaders who are “flirting” with the opposition and could possibly stand as independent candidates if they are not selected to represent the ruling party.
The governing party unveiled its local government election manifesto in the region yesterday, in a bid to revive its popularity ahead of the poll.
This is happening against the backdrop of the DA seeking to take advantage of the ANC’s internal turmoil.
Years of infighting and maladministration have seen the party’s support plunge in the region.
The ANC got less than 50% of the votes in the metro in the 2014 general elections.
Mabuyane said the ANC had picked up elements within the party that were similar to those that had led to the formation of COPE in 2008.
“We are almost experiencing what we once experienced before. Remember, the entire [regional executive committee] here left for COPE.
“Now, we have a situation [with] . . . some councillors who are in the ANC but their hearts are elsewhere . . . and we are following those culprits to identify them,” said Mabuyane.
“It is the same situation that we . . . faced in Ward 42 [in Uitenhage]. We lost that ward to an independent candidate, who was helped by . . . United Front elements and [Cosatu breakaway] Numsa,” said Mabuyane.
The National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa, which was expelled from Cosatu in 2014, has strong links to Uitenhage. General secretary Irvin Jim, a popular figure in the region, is from there.
The union has more than 300 000 members and was Cosatu’s biggest affiliate.
Jim, whose union refused to campaign for the ANC in 2014, has been at the forefront of the formation of the United Front, which is yet to be launched.
In recent by-elections in the region, the ANC was defeated by independent candidates and the United Democratic Movement — even in wards once thought to be ANC strongholds.
In Ward 30 in Veeplaas and KwaMagxaki, for example, Mabuyane said some members and ANC supporters had not voted for the party because they were sympathetic to former mayor Zanoxolo Wayile.
He said the ANC had picked up that its councillor in Ward 41 could be “flirting” with Wayile’s United Front.
“The problem we have there is historical, it is a problem of the ANC’s internal dynamics.”