The ANC’s national officials will have the final say in who the party will put forward as mayoral candidates for municipalities ahead of the upcoming local government elections — and for the first time, it is possible that mayors will not be party members.
This marks a shake-up from the party’s traditional mayoral selection process. It shifts power from regional power brokers, who largely control patronage networks linked to municipalities, to ANC headquarters at Luthuli House in Joburg.
The process has changed dramatically since 2011. Back then, the party president (Jacob Zuma at the time) was the face of the election campaign and while the process was largely centralised, regional and provincial leaders played a key role in selection.
Regional leaders would send three names to the provincial executive committee, which would vet and approve those candidates. The list of mayoral picks would then be submitted to the national leadership, where a scoring process would be used to assess candidates before a final selection was made.
In the 2016 elections, however, ANC national leaders selected mayors in a handful of councils, the results of which highlight the risk of backlash the party could again face.
In 2016, the party under Jacob Zuma faced a severe credibility crisis. Its election campaign took place on the back of rapidly declining service delivery, but also after being battered by one crisis after another linked to its president.
These included the recall of respected finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in favour of Gupta lackey David Des van Rooyen in December, and Zuma’s concession in the Constitutional Court in early 2016 that he should have paid back the money spent on private upgrades to his Nkandla residence.
The ANC explained at the time that the shake-up of its processes was intended to ensure that it retained control of key municipalities by deploying capable, competent mayoral candidates, many of whom were parachuted in from its national structures.
But there were complaints by regions and provinces that Zuma was using the selection process to quell rising dissent and punish his opponents. The most notable impact of the move was seen in Tshwane, where the attempt to replace popular mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa with National Executive Committee member Thoko Didiza resulted in violent protests, allegedly instigated by ANC structures in the region.
However, the internal dissent was not limited to Tshwane, even where it did not lead to protests. From Lichtenburg to Cape Town to Nelson Mandela Bay, party structures revolted against the move.
By 2021, the ANC had backed away from directly imposing mayors, but it did introduce a more rigorous selection process supposedly based on merit, introducing minimum requirements, political and governance experience and gender parity. Still, nominations began at branch level, and national leaders played a greater role in the process.
This was the theoretical approach, but there was little evidence this rigorous process actually took place. The party’s secretariat at the time was vacant given the impasse with secretary-general Ace Magashule, who was suspended in May 2021, months before the November election. The ANC was effectively on autopilot.
We’ll look at the best that we’ll get out of the process of interviews and engagement ... We want the best of the best
— Fikile Mbalula
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and deputy Nomvula Mokonyane told journalists on Monday that this time around, national officials will be the final arbiters in the mayoral selection process. Another new element is that the party will not be confining itself to its membership base in making the selection.
“The region will make its own recommendations; the province and finally national [structures] will have to look at those issues and everybody whose name is being raised will be subjected to a due process that’s going to be run and facilitated by the national officials.
“The difference in this instance is that it is the responsibility of the national officials to look beyond what is being nominated or suggested by the structures of the ANC, of course prioritising those who are supporters and members of the African National Congress,” Mokonyane told journalists.
It is not the first time the ANC is opening posts to nonmembers. It has done so with councillors since 2011 (also resulting in internal dissent as well as community protests, when activists selected by locals were sidelined by party structures).
But it is the first time a strategic, senior post such as a mayor could be given to outsiders.
Mbalula explained: “We’ll look at the best that we’ll get out of the process of interviews and engagement. [We will] start first with looking at people, their CVs and their political backgrounds and their leadership role in society and governance capabilities. Then, whether they can fit the role of a mayor in the metro and the role of a mayor in the secondary cities. We want the best of the best.
“We’re looking inside but we have opened up to the public, to ask in Joburg who do you want to become the mayor of Joburg on the ANC platform? That’s what we have said, and the ANC will then look into that in terms of its framework, whether to go beyond just membership.”
This approach could be a game changer for the ANC but a risky one, with the potential to cause an internal revolt by its members. Any outsider would have to retain the support of the party’s councillors. It is, however, a step towards giving voters a direct say in who they wish to run their cities — that is, if the ANC has the guts to follow through once communities make their voices heard.
The ANC campaign, set to kick off in July, is vital to stem its electoral bloodletting. This new and untested mayoral selection process forms an integral part of its pitch to a disillusioned, demoralised electorate.
Marrian is a political analyst at the Bureau for Economic Research
