The ANC is yet to come up with a way to decide the fate of its members who are aspiring candidates for the upcoming national and provincial elections who have had serious allegations levelled against them.
The party is holding a special National Executive Committee meeting in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni that includes its leagues and alliance partners to finalise its candidate before the IEC’s Friday deadline for submission.
The list conference comes amid media reports based on leaks about which senior leaders could possibly be excluded as a result of varying allegations of wrongdoing and the party is expected to decide on their eligibility.
The party said on Monday through Secretary General Fikile Mbalula the final list will include not less than half of the party’s current MPs and MPLs. “We’ll get the report from the list committee, out of all that screening, look at integrity issues, look at the question of performance because in all of these we look at continuity so in terms of continuity we look at performance of all those who were given an opportunity of which fifty percent of those must be retained in the list so that we don’t start from scratch so we should be ready before Friday to file our list,” said Mbalula during a doorstep media briefing.
Mbalula expressed displeasure about the leaks by some of its leaders urging the media to rather wait for an official briefing.
“After that we should be able to answer your questions about our list. I’ve seen people making comments in the media and some speaking on behalf of the integrity commission and some speaking on behalf of the electoral commission. We will have a briefing when all is sorted and done with the electoral commission and the secretary general, a press conference will be convened to brief on the ANC list,” said Mbalula.
Mbalula said the list will also consider geographical spread, qualifications and as well other factors.
“So wait for us till we speak for ourselves. So anyone who says the list of the ANC represents this and represents that that’s not the ANC speaking, the ANC will speak for itself, those are faceless sources and don’t speak for the ANC,” said Mbalula.