If you are worried that the number one candidate of the Alfred Nzo District Municipality is not in the candidate list submitted to the IEC, Secretary-General of the ANC Fikile Mbalula says: “You must cool down. There is no crisis.”
The ANC boss was addressing members of the media at Luthuli House on Tuesday, following the party’s decision to approach the Electoral Court to intervene in an impasse between the organisation and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Reports have emerged that the ANC failed to submit some of its candidates before the deadline, with the party blaming technical glitches experienced on the IEC’s side. The electoral body, however, has denied that technical problems prevented the ANC from submitting its lists.
Addressing the issue of mayoral candidates whose names are reportedly missing from the submitted lists, Mbalula sought to reassure ANC members and supporters that the matter would be resolved.
“You also reported about our mayoral candidates that are not in the list. That is an error and is going to be resolved, because they belong to the PR list,” Mbalula said.
He said the majority of the ANC’s mayoral candidates were included in the lists, while those who were not would still be accommodated should they ultimately be nominated as mayors by the ANC’s Top Seven leadership.
“So there is no crisis about that,” he said.
Mbalula’s comments are likely to ease concerns among ANC members and residents in Alfred Nzo, who were shocked last week by reports that Cllr Tsileng Sobuthongo, the current Mayor of Alfred Nzo District Municipality and ANC Regional Chairperson, had been left off the candidate list submitted to the IEC.
Although Sobuthongo has not been formally announced as the ANC’s mayoral candidate by the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC), ANC Alfred Nzo Regional Secretary Polelo Mohale confirmed that he was leading the party’s PR list in the region.
Meanwhile, concerns have also been raised over the ANC’s candidate lists in Ingquza Hill and Port St Johns municipalities, where the party was reportedly unable to submit some candidates before the deadline.
Mbalula said the matter was now receiving forensic attention.
“The PEC is going to account and inform the structures what changed and who changed it,” he said.
He also appealed for calm among voters and ANC supporters in the affected municipalities, saying the party had taken the matter to court in an effort to resolve the dispute.
“Whatever the court will decide, the ANC will be with you on the 4th of November,” Mbalula concluded.
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