National ANC leaders had to intervene this week to quell a revolt by Johannesburg party councillors who objected to backing Al Jama-ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda as mayor of the country’s economic hub.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula was forced to step in after party councillors refused to comply with Gauteng provincial leader Panyaza Lesufi’s instructions on how to vote.
The councillors had appealed to Mbalula to intervene, but he came out in support of Lesufi who was insisting that the ANC caucus in the metro had to back the little-known Kabelo, as agreed with major coalition partner the EFF.
ANC councillors caused shock waves on Tuesday when they openly defied Lesufi at the first council meeting to elect a mayor. They walked out of the vote, maintaining that the new mayor should come from ANC ranks.
The councillors argued that a coalition framework recently adopted by the ANC national executive committee (NEC) specified that in municipalities where the party gained the biggest slice of the votes, it had the right to name an ANC mayor.
The councillors’ position could have jeopardised the ANC’s partnership with the EFF in other municipalities, including Ekurhuleni and Mogale City, where the two parties have agreed that the post of mayor should go to a minority party.
The EFF would have walked away from the partnership, some Gauteng ANC leaders believe, had the councillors got their way and named their local chair, Dada Morero, as mayor.
Some minority parties might have done the same.
ANC leaders in Gauteng are being careful not to upset the EFF as the red berets may be critical in keeping the party in power in the province after the 2024 election.
Look, when the NEC decides, all of us will follow, there is no-one who will act outside the scope of the NEC
— Sasabona Mangyane
Mbalula, along with his NEC task team on coalitions, convened a meeting with the councillors this week and directed them to heed the voting instructions of Lesufi and Johannesburg regional secretary Sasabona Manganye.
Manganye told the Sunday Times the councillors had thought voting for Gwamanda would violate the coalition framework set out by the NEC.
“The main issue … [in] the clashes was implementation of the framework by the NEC,” he said.
“There was a misunderstanding from many of our councillors and even members of the regional executive committee [REC]. That is why the matter had to be resolved at the national level because it is the NEC that can interpret the framework.
“We had to get the custodians of the document to be the ones who clarify and interpret it for us, hence the NEC comes in. Look, when the NEC decides, all of us will follow, there is no-one who will act outside the scope of the NEC,” Manganye said.
At the meeting with councillors, he and Lesufi argued that the ANC in Johannesburg still led the coalition even though the mayor was from another party.
“In Johannesburg, we’re in a majority. I’m the chairperson of the political management council because the ANC is leading, that is the committee that gives a mandate to the coalition, it’s the one where the coalition discusses strategic city issues, what direction we want to take the city,” said Manganye.
Lesufi told the Sunday Times it was not the provincial leadership that the councillors had defied.
“There was no way the councillors could defy the province because the name of the proposed mayor came from the REC. Our task as a province was to communicate the decision of the coalition meeting, not the [preferred mayoral candidate], as the right to choose the mayor resides with the REC, not the province."
Mbalula had not responded to requests for comment by the time of going to print.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.