MBOMBELA – Things change quickly in politics. The candidate lists set up for the 2014 general elections are being discarded by both the ANC and DA.
Parties followed rigorous processes to compile their lists for provincial legislatures and the National Assembly from which representatives were elected. These cannot change for a full year after being submitted, and now both parties are departing from them.
Mr Speedy Kadishi Mashilo was sworn in as an ANC MPL last Friday after member Ms Rhoda Sazi Mathabe resigned. He was not “next in line”, according to the lists. The chairman of the ANC’s Nkangala region lost the post for a while in 2013 when the provincial executive dissolved the regional committee.
After the general election he also resigned as mayor of Nkangla District Municipality when he declined a deployment to the National Council of Provinces, due to family reasons.
The DA will also embark on a new process to elect a replacement for Mr James Masango in parliament. The recently chosen provincial leader is in the advanced stages of moving back to the legislature. Masango was elected to the National Assembly in 2014.
When he was chosen as the provincial party leader unopposed earlier this year, he was to “swap” places with MPL Mr Anthony Benadie. However, Benadie has declined the opportunity to go to parliament, also citing family reasons.
Masango says they will follow due process to select a new candidate.
“All processes must be followed. It is rigorous. It is best to advertise the position to make sure we get the right people. It is not a simple thing.”
Since he was elected off a national list, his replacement need not come from the province, he claims. His own move back to the Mpumalanga Legislature, where he had served before the move last year, is almost complete. “It is now in the hands of the legislature secretary (Mr Linda Mwale) to decide when I will be sworn in.”
It would mark the third change to members after the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Mr Alfred Skhosana recently replaced Ms Ayanda Tshabalala who defected to the ANC.
