Cape Town - Plagued by allegations of corruption, the ANC Western Cape’s list conference to nominate MPs has been nullified by the party’s top brass and a rerun of the conference ordered by ANC secretary general Ace Magashule.
ANC provincial chairperson Khaya Magaxa said the rerun conference would be held on December 27.
“What happened was that some candidates were advantaged over others, while other candidates did not see their names on the lists,” Magaxa said.
He blamed the elections agency contracted to do the work for the ANC.
“This agency has never worked for the ANC and from the beginning there were problems. I am not saying that there were not problems on the ANC’s side, but most of our problems on the day were of a technical nature.
“Of course there were factions and groups that wanted certain people to be elected, but I don’t think that equates to corruption,” Magaxa said.
There are problems too at a national level, with the ANC’s national list conference, due last weekend, postponed to January. In several provinces there have been reports of infighting, voter manipulation, and intolerance.
SA National Civic Organisation provincial chairperson Thando Dedezane said in a letter to the ANC provincial executive committee that the provincial list committee (PLC) members had been shown only a draft design of the ballot paper.
“We never had an opportunity to see the final ballot paper and before voting no list containing the names of candidates who were supposed to appear on the ballot was presented to the conference.
“There were many complications and challenges experienced after the adoption of credentials, which led to a more than four-hour delay. Printing of ballot papers only started after the adoption of credentials and they were done at the ANC provincial office,” said Dedezane.
“The PLC chairperson (Noluthando Makasi) then consulted someone over the phone and came with the decision that was very weird and controversial in terms of ANC values, that both factions must be given observer status during counting.
“The observer status was then given on the bases of factions. The elections agency then took over and counting started.” Later it was discovered that one of the PEC members, who had left before voting, was shown as a person who had voted, Dedezane said.