President Cyril Ramaphosa was forced to plead with disgruntled ANC supporters on Monday as they threatened to stay away from the polls on November 1 due to their unhappiness over service delivery failures and the manipulation of the candidate selection process.
Ramaphosa took the party's campaign to Johannesburg where he visited Orange Farm, Soweto and Alexandra hoping to convince voters to back the party in the polls and enable it to secure the clear majority it lost in 2016.
He said the ANC's decision to use community meetings as the final stamp of approval for its candidates had presented problems but that remaining disputes would be dealt with after the polls where those who were incorrectly fielded would be removed by the party.
“This strategy has not worked the way we wanted in some of the places. We did not have time to correct everything before the elections. Even the people who were not selected properly, let us vote for them so that we can remove them after the elections if there was a problem with their selection because they are under the ANC. We will investigate every complaint,” he said.
Residents of ward 108 in Alexandra vowed not to vote as they accused former community safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane of using her political influence to impose her preferred candidate, Deborah Francisco in the ward.
Ramaphosa said this would result in the party losing Johannesburg again if people stayed away.
“If we give that ward to other people, then it means the support of the ANC in the city is going to go down and we will lose,” Ramaphosa said.
Nkosi-Malobane, who is the chair of committees at the provincial legislature, dismissed the accusations of manipulation by residents of her ward, and pointed out that she did not sit on any of the ANC structures that dealt with the list process.
“It is true that I am a leader and a senior ANC person in Alex, but In terms of the ANC processes, there is no way that an individual can manipulate a selection process. I’m no longer a member of the provincial executive committee of the ANC any more and/or the provincial list committee,” Nkosi-Malobane said.
Residents raised issues of electricity supply and poor living conditions as Ramaphosa, flanked by mayoral candidate Mpho Moerane, Gauteng premier David Makhura and the regional ANC leadership, visited the townships.
In Orange Farm, disgruntled residents staged a picket at Chris Hani Sports Complex and indicated that they would also not vote if the party did not sort out the electricity crisis in the township.
Ramaphosa also gave the clearest indication yet that current Johannesburg mayor Moerane was a favourite to come back to the top post after the November 1 municipal elections.
The party is yet to announce its mayoral candidates and several names have been thrown in the ring as potential contenders for the mayoral seat in the metro, including acting regional chairperson Eunice Mgcina and deputy regional secretary Loyiso Masuku, who tops the party’s list.
While Ramaphosa insisted that some of the problems would be addressed after the elections and championed by ANC councillor candidates, he said he was impressed with Moerane's short stint as the mayor and the plan he had crafted to deal with problems facing the city.
“I am satisfied. I cannot promise you anything. What I can promise you is this mayor, that he is the one who is going to fix your problems. That is the only promise I give you because he has convinced me that he has a clear programme,” he said.
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