Limpopo MECs are useless, says Sekhukhune regional secretary

An ANC regional secretary in Limpopo has lashed out at “lazy” provincial executive council members, urging branches to rigorously assess their performance before party leaders are selected for the legislature. 

Lobbying for placement in the ANC’s provincial and national lists has intensified, with many of its MECs and ministers jostling to be included in branch nominations for representatives in the 2024 general elections. Posters of party representatives and those wishing to be selected as MPs have been circulating on social media.  

The ANC is expected to hold branch general meetings next week, where party members will select their preferred candidates to represent the party in provincial legislatures as well as in the National Assembly. President Cyril Ramaphosa will select his cabinet from that list, should he be reelected next year. 

An ANC national list conference in October will consolidate the names of party members to represent it in parliament. 

Speaking at an event in Limpopo last week, Sekhukhune secretary Mathope Tala said he had observed how many ANC members where lobbying on social media, but his region was set on two names — Ramaphosa and the province’s premier, Stan Mathabatha — which it would nominate for its national list.

“Here in the region comrades, there is no flyer. There is no flyer, we are still engaging… If you have ambitions of going to parliament, hold them there,” Tala said. 

He said the region would not nominate anyone currently holding a position as an MEC.

“Before we nominate you, before we post posters, you must tell us what did you do. We are not going to give people blank cheques here. You think because you are a current MEC we will nominate you, we will not,” Tala said.

“If we had to assess these MECs now, most of them would not come back. Most of them are useless. They are useless.”

Tala said this was an instruction to branches in the region not to nominate incumbent MECs, who he accused of driving around with bodyguards while failing to help the poor and unemployed youth. 

“We are here when young people come to the regional office every January with no school fees. They are nowhere to be found. We start to assess now. That is why we’ve introduced a concept in this region where every quarter we are assessing municipalities,” Tala said.

He added that the regional executive committee would not shy away from removing mayors not implementing the ANC’s manifesto. 

“We are removing. We don’t have time to play. We are running a tight ship, We have no time for friends like these,” he said. “If you are used to playing as mayors and you are not being assessed and you are not being corrected, you must know, your time is now and we will remove you.” 

Tala said mayors were being forced to execute the responsibilities of provincial departments while MECs enjoyed cushy lives in Polokwane, the capital of Limpopo.

“Let’s wait before we post posters on social media comrades, we are still assessing them. At an appropriate time, we will have engagement between us and other regions, we conclude, we give direction. We are not going to do this in isolation. Stop sharing these posters,” Tala said.

The process to select candidates as MPs and MPLs will be run by the ANC’s electoral committee headed by former president Kgalema Motlanthe. It will deliver a national list of 200 ANC candidates for parliament as well as a provincial to national ANC list of five to 50 candidates for parliament per province. The process will also deliver nine provincial legislature ANC lists with a minimum of 30 and maximum of 80 candidates. 

The party’s electoral committee will appoint provincial list committees and list

administrators in consultation with the provincial executive committee (PEC) and the ANC’s alliance partners  the South African Communist Party and trade union federation Cosatu.

The provincial list committee will consolidate, interview and screen the top 15% of candidates nominated by branches and propose a draft ordered list to the extended PEC. The extended PEC includes ex-officio members from the ANC’s regions and leagues and five each from the alliance partners and the South African National Civic Organisation.

The party’s electoral committee guidelines stipulate that all branches may nominate candidates for each of the three lists.

National and provincial officials may add a small number of candidates who are not nominated by branches. This may be done to achieve capacity or representativity. All provincial list candidates must be approved by an extended PEC. 

The guidelines also say that all ANC provincial and national candidates must be approved by the extended NEC made up of NEC members, ex-officio league and provincial representatives and representatives from alliance partners.