Ramokgopa has not run a squeaky clean administration and Matsena is just not an instrument for excellence in municipal governance, writes Mcebisi Ndletyana.
Johannesburg - Residents of Tshwane awoke on Tuesday to a different city, a city in the grip of mayhem. There had been a whiff of violence earlier on Sunday, with an ANC member killed, after the announcement that Thoko Didiza was the party’s mayoral candidate in the upcoming local elections.
But there was no clue that this killing was actually the spark that would set the townships on fire.
More than 20 buses were burnt to the ground, the body-bag count has risen to 5, foreign nationals are on the run and more than 50 people face charges of theft, vandalism and arson.
It is puzzling that nominating Didiza as the candidate for mayor of Tshwane would unleash such destruction.
She is a leader of the party and those on a destructive spree purport to be ANC members. And Didiza’s nomination was mooted by the provincial executive committee (PEC) of the ANC, which was possibly elected by the same members who are now rejecting its decision.
It smacks of a breakdown of authority.
Some ANC members are insisting the incumbent and chairperson of Tshwane, Kgosientso “Sputla” Ramokgopa, return as mayor.
This even goes against the choices of the regional executive committee (REC), which didn’t include Ramokgopa’s name among the three it forwarded to the PEC for selection.
Instead, the REC proposed, alongside two other names, deputy regional chairman Mapiti Matsena. In other words, Ramokgopa’s own REC didn’t nominate him for mayor. How was this possible?
The man was re-elected overwhelmingly for a third term in 2014. Yet, reports are that he didn’t top the list of candidates compiled at the party’s regional list conference.
Matsena was the favourite.
There’s obviously a power-struggle between Ramokgopa and Matsena.
The latter has been hard at work, mobilising support to oust Ramokgopa from the mayoral position.
And, for the ANC members to have turned so quickly against Ramokgopa at the list conference, after supporting him to be chairperson about two years ago, suggests an extraordinary level of malleability on their part.
One cannot discard the possibility of patronage in swaying members to shift so swiftly from one leader to another.
A book by the Mapungubwe Institute, titled: Patronage Politics Divides Us, which is based on a research study in various townships, reveals just how toxic patronage is in local politics.
Members are hired and politicians’ campaigns are sponsored by business people in return for contracts and benefits.
It is quite possible, therefore, that Ramokgopa’s ousting is driven by the pursuit of material gains, not good governance.
That said, let us briefly assume that good governance was a consideration. After all, while savvy and witty, Ramokgopa has not run a squeaky clean administration.
There have been endless reports of corruption involving a contract to install a meter-reading system and concerts for international singers that never happened, despite expenditure of millions of rands.
Even if we assume that Ramokgopa’s removal is punishment for maladministration and possible impropriety, the aim here is not to achieve efficient governance.
Matsena is just not an instrument for excellence in municipal governance.
By nominating him, alongside other two marginal candidates, the Tshwane REC wants us to believe he is the answer to the woes. That’s not possible.
This man has never been a councillor. He has been a public servant. Surely, one doesn’t just become mayor of the country’s capital city without some experience as a councillor.
Did this REC ever consider the demands of the mayoral position in an international city, and what is required of the incumbent?
Do they even care whether their mayor excels once he assumes office? I doubt it. How could Matsena excel, when he hasn’t been prepared?
That’s what makes the decision, by the PEC, to reject Ramokgopa laudible.
Besides considerations of competence, the REC is anxious to have cohesion in the ANC to ward off the DA’s attempts to wrest the reins away from them.
They reckoned that Thoko Didiza, as she appears detached from either faction, stood a better chance of narrowing the schism within the REC.
It’s not a perfect solution, but it was the one they figured was less risky and something had to be done to rectify an already precarious situation.
In other words, Matsena’s nomination as a mayoral candidate was not about merit and excellence. It’s all about access to the spoils of office.
Disregard for merit is not peculiar to the City of Tshwane. It happened earlier in KwaZulu-Natal and now also at Ekurhuleni. Sihle Zikalala is now MEC of the complex portfolio of economic development. He’s never been an MPL before he was elected provincial chair, let alone a portfolio chairperson.
This is how one gets training and familiarity to become an executive head. Zikalala’s only claim to this position is that he had the numbers on his side.
He somehow convinced the majority of ANC members to elect him chairperson of the ANC in the province, over Senzo Mchunu.
That’s how Mzwandile Masina also got to be the mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni. Masina is similarly ill-prepared for this position. Not only that, but he’s also replacing a very capable mayor, Mondli Gungubele, who has won the municipality numerous honours and put it on a developmental path.
The calibre of an individual leader matters. Individuals make a difference. The accent on the collective is over-rated. Even the ANC, of all groupings, is now publicly acceding to this human reality. That is why they’re now picking mayoral candidates before the elections.
The candidate will become the leader and face of the local campaign, instead of the collective or president of the republic.
Danny Jordaan, for instance, will mount a far better campaign in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro than the collective or the president of the ANC. Both are badly tainted in that part of the country, while Jordaan who came into office in May 2015 with enormous credibility, has demonstrated competence as mayor and yielded good results.
Jordaan’s nomination is recognition of merit and that people appreciate excellence.
What of the violence that has gripped the capital city? It is highly unfortunate, but not unexpected. Ascendance to office is now settled by might and connivance, not wit and merit. Extra-judicial means of contesting office have become acceptable. The chickens have come home to roost!
* Ndletyana is an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg and a Fellow at MISTRA
** The views expressed here are not necessarilt those of Independent Media.
The Sunday Independent