John Matisonn: ANC candidate rigging continues, says NDZ

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has accused the ANC of allowing cash payments and procedural manipulation to influence its municipal council candidate selection ahead of November's local elections. The NEC member told the African Renaissance podcast that problems occurred in almost every province, including meetings held without a quorum. The party's final candidate list, tightened this year to require educational qualifications, must reach the Independent Electoral Commission by Friday. Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula plans to sue Dlamini-Zuma for defamation over separate allegations linked to the 2022 ANC congress, while she has withdrawn a similar claim against minister Ronald Lamola after he denied involvement..By John Matisonn.The ANC’s selection of municipal council candidates for November’s elections saw money change hands and other forms of “rigging”, according to Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was a presidential candidate in 2017 and remains on the ANC National Executive Committee.“In almost every province there were problems,” she told Dr Mbuyeseni Ndlozi on the Thabo Mbeki Foundation podcast African Renaissance. “We recommended some be withdrawn, but most were not.” Dlamini-Zuma gave this interview before this week’s NEC meeting to finalise the list, which must be submitted to the Independent Election Commission by Friday, August 28. ANC mayoral candidate will only be announced next month.The NEC includes ministers and former ministers who have appeared before the Madlanga Commission into corruption or the Zondo Commission into state capture, like Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and his predecessor Bheki Cele. Cele received the fifth highest number of votes for election to the NEC, followed by Mchunu at sixth and former Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba in seventh place. Dlamini-Zuma was 33rd. The NEC has 80 members, and is the highest decision-making body between congresses. “We found different problems around the selection,” Dlamini-Zuma said. “Sometimes the branch meetings were not conducted properly. For example, say there was no quorum. Then a secret meeting would be held and elect a councillor…. it was a combination of all sorts of things.”Asked if money was still used to get selected, she said: “In some instances yes. In some it was just rigging of the processes.” Asked if the process had improved this time, she said “I hope so.”Criteria for selection as councillors were tightened by the ANC this year, adding educational qualifications. At least one disgruntled member, in Buffalo City, sent a lawyer’s letter threatening court action over the process this week.ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is pursuing formal legal action against Dlamini-Zuma for alleging he was “dishing out money” at the 2022 ANC congress.Rejecting the claims entirely, Mbalula confirmed he will sue for defamation and will also refer the matter directly to the ANC Integrity Commission to formally clear his name. A possible lawsuit by International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola was averted when Dlamini-Zuma withdrew her allegation that he had been involved in money payments at an ANC conference.In her interview she referred to a voice recording which she attributed to Lamola, but withdraw the accusation after he wrote to her to insist he was not the person speaking. “The voice note is not mine, and I was not involved in the conduct falsely attributed to me,” Lamola said.“Comrade Lamola has since advised me that the voice was not his. I withdraw the attribution on the basis of his clarification,” she wrote.Lamola has welcomed her retraction. She has not withdrawn her statements referring to Mbalula. .Read more:.Matisonn: Zille's blue bakkie brigade hits Joburg streets while ANC hasn’t even found its candidate.In his interview, Dr Ndlozi questioned why she stayed in the ANC. “Well, do we abandon the ANC? Should we have it in 2022? I felt we couldn’t abandon it, and that’s why I’m there…“…I hope we still not get into another era of the ANC being bought but I don’t know.”After receiving Dlamini-Zuma’s retraction, Lamola agreed that the influence of money in political campaigns is a “legitimate and important” matter for public discussion..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

John Matisonn: ANC candidate rigging continues, says NDZ

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