BALDWIN NDABA
Johannesburg - The ANC has set a deadline of November 18 for the appointment of mayors in all municipalities won by the party after next week’s local government elections.
This was announced by ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte during the launch of the ANC barometer at its party’s headquarters – Luthuli House in Joburg yesterday.
The ANC barometer is a monitoring tool of performances of municipal councillors and councils in ANC controlled municipalities.
Duarte said the final list of ANC mayors will be endorsed at its party national executive committee meeting which would be held on November 13 until 15 at a venue still to be announced.
However, she did not indicate whether the meeting would be held virtually but President Cyril Ramaphosa had already announced that more than 200 people could be allowed in an indoor meeting.
In the past, ANC virtual meetings were marred by audio leaks to the media – a feature which embarrassed the top leadership and had led to public spats between warring factions within the ANC NEC.
Before the announcement of the date, Duarte warned that after the elections, her party would undertake a rigorous process to interview potential mayors for ANC controlled municipalities.
Duarte said: “We are going to interview people. We are going to look for competent and experienced people who can manage a municipality. We want people who can tell a municipal manager that the waste dump in a particular area is causing the disease to residents.
“We want people who can immediately fix a broken pipe, not someone who will wait for three years to fix it and deny people access to services such as water and electricity,” Duarte said.
While the party is yet to name the candidates, she was adamant that those who will be included on the list of potential mayoral candidates after November 2, would undergo background checks and, if cleared, they would be forced to sign performance agreements with the ANC.
Duarte said her party was also looking forward to electing mayors who have knowledge in finance and executive management but warned: “We are going to measure their performance on what they have offered to deliver. We are going to measure them against the budget allocated to them,” she said.
She emphasised academic qualifications, saying a degree would be an added advantage but not a requirement for people to be elected as mayors.
“We must have reliable leaders who can have good relationships with the labour force. We want people who are going to respect the labour laws of the country. We want people of integrity in ANC cadres. We do not want a proxy of gangs,” Duarte said.
The ANC has also vowed to act against its party controlled municipalities that were plagued with acts of corruption and fraud, especially the 33 municipalities which were placed under administration by the national government.
While most of these municipalities were in the North West, Duarte said they wanted to wipe out criminal activities in all the affected municipalities.
“We must never be happy with mediocrity,” Duarte said.
Political Bureau