ANC deputy secretary Jessie Duarte says the party has managed to sort out the issue of proportional representation (PR) candidate councillors for the upcoming elections in the Western Cape.
The ANC did not submit the candidate lists for PR candidates in all municipalities in the province by August 23, but was given a reprieve when the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) extended the date for submission of candidates after it lost a Constitutional Court bid to postpone the elections.
Duarte said she was quite impressed with party members in the Western Cape, who were doing solid organisational work.
“We are not going to do any conferences until after the elections. Everything has been put on hold,” she said. “We will be moving steadily towards having a provincial conference, and will elect permanent leadership,” she said.
The ANC in the Western Cape is led by an interim leadership under Lerumo Kalako after the provincial executive committee was disbanded. The party will start preparing for the elective conference after the November 1 local government elections.
Duarte said she found during her visit that party members were less concerned with internal squabbles at the moment.
“What is really on top of mind is to register voters and to win the elections on November 1,” she said.
Kalako said they were happy that Duarte had visited the province as part of the local government campaign.
“It is the necessary support we need as the province. We are happy when the leadership comes down and works with structures on the ground,” he said.
Kalako also said they had opportunities to win, especially in the City of Cape Town.
“Here in the metro we are sure that we are to reduce the DA from 51%. We are gunning to make a big dent,” he said, adding that they would realise the feat by getting ANC voters to the polls on election day.
However, Kalako noted that the governing party had financial problems, including an inability to pay its employees’ salaries. He was convinced that the ANC would come around and that employees’ challenges were being attended to by the national leadership.
“Kalako said they were using the available resources for the election campaign, and that Luthuli House was planning to deliver more resources.
“We are left with 50 days. We are expecting those resources to come down so that we are all flat out, our comrades on the ground are able to do their work, and there is no shortage of resources,” he said, adding that the budget had been worked out.
Kalako could not say who the ANC’s preferred mayoral candidate was for the city. He said there were new criteria to select mayoral candidates for metros, which included interviews by Luthuli House to assess their expertise and capacity to execute the job.
“You must have expertise and capacity to manage and lead a city with that magnitude of budget,” Kalako said.
Political Bureau