South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, faces scrutiny as it unveils its candidate list for upcoming elections, featuring figures implicated in corruption during former President Jacob Zuma’s era. Notably, Sports Minister Zizi Kodwa, Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, and ex-finance minister Malusi Gigaba make the list despite allegations of bribery. The controversial choices jeopardise the ANC’s anti-corruption stance, risking voter support, with polls indicating a potential loss of the party’s national majority for the first time since 1994.
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By Paul Vecchiatto
South Africa’s ruling party released its list of candidate lawmakers for May 29 national and provincial elections that includes several people who were implicated in wrongdoing by a judicial panel that spent four years investigating graft during former President Jacob Zuma’s rule.
Those on the African National Congress‘s list include Sports Minister Zizi Kodwa, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, and Malusi Gigaba, a former finance minister — all of whom the panel said should be investigated by the authorities with a view toward prosecuting them after they were implicated in taking bribes. The three have all denied wrongdoing and none have been charged.Â
The ANC’s choice of public representatives undermines its stated commitment toward stamping out the corruption that become endemic during Zuma’s almost nine-year tenure and threatens to alienate voters. Several opinion polls point to the party losing its national majority for the first time since it took power in 1994, with one released by the Brenthurst Foundation on Monday showing its support falling to just 39%.
Just 20 of the people implicated in the report by the panel headed by now-Chief Justice Raymond Zondo were current or former ANC lawmakers or members of its National Executive Committee and just six of those appeared on the party’s candidate lists this year, Fikile Mbulula, the party’s secretary-general told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday. A number of party members had been disqualified for standing because they had criminal records or had been suspended pending internal disciplinary processes, he said.
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