Failure to resolve branch-level disputes could see some wards without candidates in elections
The ANC in the Eastern Cape is in a race against time to resolve branch-level disputes or risk contesting parts of the province without councillor candidates.
Only 10 days are left before the Electoral Commission’s (IEC) August 28 deadline, which requires all political parties and independent candidates to submit their lists before the 5pm cutoff.
The commission warned that there would be no room for late submissions.
With the IEC deadline looming, the party is under pressure to resolve a number of branch general meeting disputes.
At the weekend, an ANC provincial list conference at the East London ICC had to be abruptly halted after disgruntled branches from the Alfred Nzo and Chris Hani regions threatened legal action if the gathering went ahead while disputes remained unresolved.
The conference was to finalise and adopt the electoral candidate lists.
Those invited included all provincial list committee members and those serving in the regional interview and vetting panels, office bearers of all ANC regions in the province, delegates from the provincial ANC youth, women and veterans’ leagues, and those from alliance partners Cosatu and Sanco.
A senior ANC insider said on Monday that almost 180 branch general meeting disputes had been lodged and while admitting many of these had been resolved, about 50 remain outstanding.
The disputes were mainly from the Chris Hani, Alfred Nzo, OR Tambo, Dr WB Rubusana in Buffalo City Metro and Amathole regions, with those from the latter two the subject of legal challenges before the courts.
The ANC insider said in some of the resolved cases, branch general meetings had been reordered.
This meant that the process to select councillor candidates had to start afresh.
“The party is in a serious race against time to finalise its candidate list for these upcoming elections,” the insider said.
“We are at risk of not fielding candidates in some areas because of the ongoing disputes which are yet to be fully resolved.
“The process [of BGMs being reconvened] could further be delayed by those who will not be happy about such outcomes and who would appeal against those processes…
“It’s a worrying situation that gives us sleepless nights as the organisation.”
Another senior party member said while some of the regions had compiled their candidate lists, “such submission process faces serious delays, as we do not have a provincial structure to rubberstamp such lists”.
“This will lead to further delays in us submitting to the IEC.
“With the deadline looming, the entire province might be in danger of not submitting candidates if our internal disputes are not resolved soon.”
The ANC has been without an Eastern Cape leadership after the high court in Makhanda declared the establishment of the party’s provincial task team (PTT) unlawful and invalid.
The PTT was announced after the term of office of the provincial executive committee (PEC) ended.
The court had also barred those appointed to the task team from representing the provincial ANC in any meeting or conference, while all decisions the PTT had taken in the few weeks of its existence were declared null and void.
The party has since lost its leave to appeal the judgment in the high court in Makhanda. However, on Monday, the ANC filed their notice of motion to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
ANC acting national spokesperson Nonceba Mhlauli said: “The ANC will announce the outcome of its candidate selection processes via the secretary-general [Fikile Mbalula] this week.
“We will do a comprehensive briefing on the process … Just to be clear, there is no province of the ANC that is at risk of missing any IEC deadline.
“As previously stated, we are engaged in the legal process on the matter of the PTT and shall await those processes.”
The briefing is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
In correspondence to Mbalula, dated August 13, attorneys representing two disgruntled ANC members from the Alfred Nzo and Chris Hani regions threatened legal action if the list conference was hosted in the absence of the party’s PEC.
They argue that the June high court judgment nullifying the PTT meant the PEC was reinstated.
The attorneys, who could not be reached late on Monday, in correspondence said Mbalula did not have the requisite delegated authority and power to perform the functions of the PEC.
ANC veteran Mavuso Msimang on Monday cast doubt over the party’s election campaign in the province, as party disputes continued.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Rhodes University Samora Machel symposium in Makhanda, Msimang said the constant legal battles that the party was facing were “tearing the party apart”.
He said it was painful to see the party “in such a poor state of affairs”.
“It is very saddening that the ANC has no leadership structure in the province,” Msimang said.
“The Eastern Cape is one of the most important provinces for the ANC historically, and to have these kinds of factions taking place is a terrible statement.”
While Mavuso was optimistic that the party would do better in the upcoming elections, he said this was a high mountain to climb.