The ANC has denied claims it missed its deadline to resolve disputes for candidates for local government elections.
ANC National spokesperson Pule Mabe said the party is satisfied that all its processes are firmly on track and proceeding according to schedule to meet timelines as set out by the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
“A letter from the deputy secretary-general, Comrade Jessie Duarte, makes it clear that in the event that certain disputes have not been resolved on time, these will be attended to beyond the 1st of November 2021. So the ‘missing of deadline’ does not arise at this stage.
“The immediate task of the movement in relation to the upcoming local government elections is civic education primarily focused on voter registration and to get as many eligible voters as possible to go out and register to vote,” Mabe said.
He further assured that all candidates would be registered with the IEC by 21 September.
Mabe said the ANC Electoral Committee, chaired by Kgalema Motlanthe, has established rules for the candidate selection process with guidelines on the resolution of the disputes.
“The ANC is very proud of its democratic process of nominating candidates for the forthcoming local government election because this process empowers the communities with a final decision on who becomes their councillor in each ward throughout the country,” he said.
However, the party condemned the violence at some community meetings where ANC councillor candidates were nominated.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutal killing of three women in a drive-by shooting in Durban’s Inanda Township on Saturday while attending an ANC community meeting to finalise the selection of candidates for 2021 local government elections.
“The ANC conveys its condolences to the families of the deceased and urges law-enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators of this crime are apprehended and made to face the full wrath of our justice system without delay,” Mabe said.
Political Bureau