Cape Town – Several ANC councillors in the Western Cape will lose their positions in municipalities by the end of June when the party implements recommendations to remove them.
The recommendations were contained in a report by former president Kgalema Motlanthe after investigating allegations of manipulation of candidate lists and non-compliance with rules before the 2021 local government elections.
Of the 26 appeals that were lodged and investigated, 10 were rejected but recommendations of disciplinary action were made against 16.
The affected regions in the province included Dullah Omar, Boland, Southern Cape and Overberg.
The secretary of the party's National Electoral Committee, Livhu Matsila, said those found guilty of manipulating the lists would be recalled from their positions.
“They are illegally occupying those positions,” he said.
Western Cape ANC convener Lerumo Kalako said the region would undoubtedly implement the recommendations.
“The instruction was that we must take disciplinary action against those behind the manipulations,” said Kalako.
He said the action was in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa's call for clean governance.
“Corruption starts with the manipulation of candidate lists. We must root it out,” he added.
Kalako also said in the case of three ward councillors in the Dullah Omar region where appeals were lodged, community votes were redone in line with the recommendations.
However, the community voted them in again and he indicated there would be no need for a by-election.
Kalako said a meeting to repeat the process in Villiersdorp was disrupted and would have to be called again.
Luvuyo Zondani, a Dullah Omar proportional representation (PR) candidate who lodged an appeal on the basis that he was overlooked because of his disability, said he was still waiting for feedback on the outcome.
“It's frustrating to sit and wait for an outcome on how the matter was resolved,” said Zondani.
“I believe my disability has nothing to do with my ability to serve people.
“The ANC should field councillors who are representative of all groups in society.”
ANC general secretary Fikile Mbalula set strict time frames to implement the Motlanthe recommendations.
In a communique to provincial secretaries and co-ordinators, Mbalula stressed remedial action and disciplinary processes arising out of the report should be concluded soon.
The affected provinces were given until May 15 to submit reports on what had been done so far.
They were also given until June 22–23 to submit on progress made regarding outstanding disciplinary processes to the party's highest decision-making body, the National Executive Committee (NEC).