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JOHANNESBURG - Over 100 ANC members from three provinces protested outside the ANC’s Luthuli House on Wednesday, complaining about issues of alleged manipulation of processes in the selection of candidates.
Party members from Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng (Tshwane and Orange Farm in Johannesburg) spent over six hours holding placards, chanting and singing struggle songs, after arriving in different modes of transport, including buses and taxis.
Sibusiso Masina from ward 29 in Witbank said they were unhappy over disputes that were brought to the ANC at regional level but which were ignored.
“We are here to plead with ANC deputy secretary-secretary Jessie Duarte to attend us. At ward 29 we have a number of challenges, including corruption and illegal sale of houses. Duarte come and addressed us, failing which we will not vote in the upcoming elections,” Masina said.
Saintjay Manyasha from Tshwane ward 80 said they were protesting over public voting on Sunday, which they believed was not free and fair.
“It was not free and fair, it was riddled with thuggerism and corruption, as we found ballot boxes dumped in a field yesterday. We have subsequently on Monday filed a dispute. So we are saying to the national, as well as the province, to speed up the process because we now have evidence of corruption,” said Manyasha.
Sandiso Madolo from ward 97 in Mamelodi said they were there to make a follow-up on their dispute that was submitted on August 20, but which had not been responded to.
“On August 19 we held our committee voting, on that day the current ANC councillor was found manipulating the system, he was found with ballot papers, he wrecked votes,” Madolo said.
ANC provincial secretaries had been summoned to the ruling party’s headquarters to verify councillor candidate lists. Last month the party missed the deadline of the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
The IEC has set September 21, 2021 as the new deadline for submissions.
ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said there was a clear framework on how disputes were resolved, with the electoral committee being led by former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
“The process of the ANC of selecting councillor candidates for the 2021 elections is quite different to what has been happening throughout the years. For the first time this year, communities are having to participate on who finally becomes a representative in their own wards, it is no longer a process left entirely to our own branches,” said Mabe.
– Political Bureau
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