Johannesburg - The future of ANC mayors in metros that will be key
battlegrounds in the 2016 local government elections hangs in the balance as
the ANC hits panic mode over the looming polls. 
Local government was expected to top the agenda on the last day of the
national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Sunday where a national working
committee (NWC) report detailing its assessment of ANC regions is to be tabled.
This follows visits to 51 of the party’s 53 regions across the country.
Independent Newspapers
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, national
chairwoman Baleka Mbete and president Jacob Zuma before the start of the
ANC national executive committee meeting this week. Picture: Thobile
Mathonsi
It will include a report looking specifically at “hotspots”, which are
totally dysfunctional municipalities where the NWC is expected to return. The
ANC has already fired seven mayors in Limpopo alone in the past three months,
but it is unclear if these dismissals were related to the NWC visits.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe confirmed this week that the NWC
had visited regions, but downplayed suggestions that the party was uneasy,
especially in the metros. But extraordinary steps taken by the party regarding
local government this week indicated a sense of urgency about cleaning up the
mess in municipalities ahead of the 2016 local government elections.
On Thursday President Jacob Zuma convened a local government summit
attended by mayors, premiers, chief whips in municipal councils and traditional
leaders, where political instability in the regions was red-flagged as a threat
that could collapse municipalities.
Mayors were also summoned to a meeting with ANC officials, including
Mantashe, after the summit.
A detailed report of the summit and the meeting with the mayors was due
to have been tabled at the NEC meeting yesterday, but the more crucial NWC
report after its visits to regions is expected today.
Panic over the real prospects of losing key metros, particularly
Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Joburg in Gauteng and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern
Cape, has seen Luthuli House considering taking over the deployment of only
senior ANC officials to the metros. The party performed badly in Tshwane,
Joburg and Ekurhuleni, where they won by 50.9 percent, 53.63 percent and 56.41
percent respectively.
Several regional leaders who were present at some meetings with NWC
deployees said there was even a proposal to review the 2007 Polokwane
conference resolution that the regional and provincial executive committees
would decide on the deployment of mayors.
The NEC’s legislature and governance subcommittee chairwoman, Nomaindia
Mfeketo, said there were discussions about deploying senior ANC leaders to the
metros, but not so much about reviewing the Polokwane resolution.
One ANC regional leader said the proposal would strip the regional
structures of powers to determine deployment at local level, and give too much
power to Luthuli House.
“I don’t see how any of the provinces will agree to so much
centralisation of power to Luthuli House. Why would we want to return to
something that we had a problem with and resolved to change it at Polokwane?”
Mantashe this week disputed suggestions that the ANC faced real
prospects of losing the metros that didn’t perform well in the provincial
elections, saying it was hardly an indication of how they were likely to
perform in the local government election.
Asked about suggestions that Luthuli House might centralise the
deployments of mayors, ANC Gauteng provincial chairman Paul Mashatile said the
current policy was that mayors were selected “from the bottom up”.
“That is the current policy. Any changes would have to be done by the
national conference, which comes after 2016,” he said.
The ANC’s national general council next year is expected to set the
tone for the direction the party is likely to take ahead of the local
government elections and the national policy conference that will precede its
2017 national conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment