ANC moves to finalise parliamentary lists as IEC deadline looms

1 Mar 2024

The ANC will be finalising its provincial legislature and Parliament lists ahead of the IEC’s cut-off date on Friday, 8 March. The party has faced intense criticism over whether the State Capture accused will be included in the lists.

The ANC’s Electoral Committee presented its preliminary lists for the party’s candidates in the upcoming elections to the ANC’s Top Seven on Thursday afternoon, 29 February, before they are expected to be brought before its National Executive Committee (NEC) next week.

Head of the committee former president Kgalema Motlanthe and his team have interviewed nominees, including party president Cyril Ramaphosa, over the past few weeks.

The party has to nominate up to 200 candidates for Parliament. The nine provincial legislature lists require a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 80 candidates. The ANC’s constitution guarantees Ramaphosa’s candidacy for president of the country.

Daily Maverick understands that the party’s NEC will hold an extended meeting, commencing on Monday, to decide on the lists.

Following that meeting, there will be a list conference where NEC members and alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions as well as the SA Communist Party, will consolidate the party’s list of candidates.

Will the State Capture accused be included?

The ANC will be conducting the process with the matter of the State Capture accused hanging over it.

The ANC Veterans’ League has proposed excluding those implicated in Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s State Capture report from its parliamentary lists for the 2024 election.

This was one of the conditions put forward by veteran Mavuso Msimang when he decided to rescind his resignation from the party in December 2023.

Last year, Msimang resigned from the ANC and raised a myriad issues which the party had failed to tackle. These included the party allowing members implicated in State Capture to be nominated to serve in Parliament and provincial legislatures.

Those implicated include two Top Seven members, namely the party’s national chair Gwede Mantashe and its deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane. This will, however, not affect Mokonyane as she is not currently an elected public representative and her role at Luthuli House is full-time, unlike Mantashe, who is the current mineral resources and energy minister.

Prominent ANC members who were mentioned in Zondo’s State Capture report include Malusi Gigaba, Zizi Kodwa, Vincent Smith, Winnie Ngwenya, David Mahlobo, Siyabonga Cwele, Faith Muthambi and Mildred Oliphant.

The party has referred those who have been accused of wrongdoing to its integrity committee.

The electoral committee has set out in a document the rules and guidelines that will be considered for candidates looking to become MPs and provincial MPLs. It does not mention those deemed to be involved in State Capture.

To qualify for nomination, all candidates must meet the following criteria: “Have no criminal record or criminal charges brought by the NPA (this excludes political-related crimes committed before April 1994).

“Private prosecutions are excluded unless these result in criminal convictions by a court of law … No candidate shall be eligible for nomination if he/she has been found guilty by a Disciplinary Committee for contravening the ANC Code of Conduct, and had their membership suspended for any period in the last 10 years. This rule applies also where a member is awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary hearing or an appeal.” DM

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Will the State Capture accused be included?