NEW ANC MAYORS Durban: Zandile Gumede Port Elizabeth: Danny Jordaan Joburg: Parks Tau Ekhuleni: Mzwandile Masina Cape Town: Xolani Sotashe
LATE last night the ANC confirmed that Zandile Gumede would be its mayoral candidate for Durban. After lengthy delays ( the announcement was expected at 5pm), ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe made the announcement shortly before midnight.
Gumede became the front-runner when she was voted chairwoman of the ANC’s eThekwini region. It was a fiercely contested election that pitted her against current mayor James Nxumalo.
eThekwini is the ANC’s biggest region, with 103 branches. The city has a budget of almost R42 billion, bigger than most provincial departments.
In recent weeks, there was talk that Nomsa Dube-Ncube could be appointed as mayoral candidate. She serves as the MEC for Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs.
Dube-Ncube was once touted as a potential KwaZulu-Natal premier. At the time, the ANC was keen to appoint a woman to head the province. However, Senzo Mchunu got the nod ahead of her.
When Mchunu was recalled by the ANC a month ago, it was thought that Gumede’s mayoral ambitions were sealed due to her close ties to the ANC’s provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala.
Gumede also topped the candidate list and enjoyed strong support from the ANC Youth League in the province.
She was born in Inanda, north west of the city centre. She is widowed and serves as the chairwoman of eThekwini’s Health, Safety and Social Services committee.
The ANC has massive support in eThekwini and should the party win, Gumede is likely to become the first woman mayor since Durban became a Metro.
Meanwhile, the ANC has announced strong candidates in the metros where they expect fierce competition.
Danny Jordaan has been confirmed as the ANC mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay after he was initially imposed on the troubled region by the national leadership last year. Zandile Gumede is the ANC’s candidate to be mayor of Durban.
Jordaan will face off against the DA’s Athol Trolip in what is also expected to be hotly contested battle for the city.
Having launched it’s election manifesto in the city earlier this year, the party is going all out to fight off the DA and smaller parties which may ultimately be king-makers if a coalition is needed to determine who runs the city.
Secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, his deputy Jessie Duarte, national chairwoman Baleka Mbete and treasurer general Zweli Mkhize are expected to lead campaign activities in the metro today.
The party has decided to retain Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau as its mayoral candidate to take on the DA’s Herman Mashaba.
Ekurhuleni regional chairman Mzwandile Masina has emerged as the mayoral candidate for the metro.
Masina is the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, but it is unclear whether he will continue to hold both positions if the ANC retains Ekurhuleni.
A stalemate over who should be mayor of Tshwane has seen the city become the only metro where the ANC does not yet have a mayoral candidate. In Tshwane, where the ruling party is expected to face a stiff challenge from the DA, ANC regional chairman and mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa and his deputy Mapiti Matsena are at loggerheads.
In Cape Town, the only metro under the control of the DA, the ANC named Xolani Sotashe as its candidate. – Additional reporting by Mogomotsi Magome