ANC top brass accused of trying to bury Motlanthe report exposing tampering of party lists

ANC top brass has allegedly been involved in an apparent extensive cover-up to ensure that the Motlanthe report, which contains findings about massive illegal tempering with ANC party lists during the 2021 municipal elections, is buried.

It was alleged that, instead resolving the matter by implementing a report by the Kgalema Motlanthe electoral committee, which investigated allegations of replacement of legitimate community nominated candidates with individuals connected to certain top leaders, Luthuli House allegedly delayed the release of the report.

‘Until 2024 elections’

Instead, it appointed one task team after another to probe the same issue as a way to frustrate the report until the 2024 elections.

In late 2021, affected communities complained to the ANC head office about the removal of their chosen candidates from party lists by ANC top leaders.

It was alleged NEC members, Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, MPs, MECs, MPLs and mayors and members of the ANC provincial structures tampered with the lists before they were sent to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) prior to local government elections. The politicians allegedly removed legitimate candidates and put in their friends and comrades.

ALSO READ: The ANC must publish its election candidate lists

The names of the politicians involved in the fraudulent acts are known to Saturday Citizen.

The ANC’s dilemma is that most of the illegal candidates were ward councillors, which meant by-elections had to be organised to replace them, while there was no guarantee the party would win these seats in future polls.

North West threatens not to vote for ANC

The ward-based communities in the North West, particularly have threatened not to vote for the ruling party in the 2024 general election unless their candidates were reinstated.

North West has the largest number of “parachuted” councillors, or those who were illegally placed on the lists.

Complaints had also been received by dissatisfied communities from the ANC’s Dr WB Rubusana region in Buffalo City, Eastern Cape. They have written to Luthuli House and party stalwarts asking for them to intervene as voters are angry.

ALSO READ: ANC copies EFF with youthful candidates lists

The North West has been complaining and some members challenged the ANC in court.

The Northern Cape and the Free State were said to be preparing to embark on protests demanding the provincial list committee (PLC) reports to be implemented, like in other provinces where the process went smoothly.

Fraudulent lists

The North West PLC, which worked closely with Motlanthe to probe the fraudulent lists, is demanding that the Motlanthe report’s recommendations be implemented – but Luthuli House is reluctant to do so.

Instead, some NEC members have asked that the PLC should compromise by dropping the number of the affected councillors from 155 to a manageable level.

ALSO READ: ANC ‘on track’ to meet new IEC deadline for candidate lists despite disputes

Instead of implementing the Motlanthe report, Luthuli House had one task team after another in a suspicious move of a cover-up, allegedly to frustrate the issue.

Matters came to head recently after ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula announced ANC NEC member Dina Pule as chair of a new investigative team to probe the same matter for the fourth time.

Before Pule’s team, other investigations were conducted by Motlanthe, former ANC North West deployees convenor and NEC member Obed Bapela, and the late Free State MEC for education, Tate Makgoe.

ALSO READ: ANC ‘beats’ IEC candidate lists deadline

Motlanthe and Bapela produced scathing reports about how communities were cheated by ANC leaders at national, provincial and local level.

155 illegal ANC candidates

In the investigation done on the ground by the PLC on Motlanthe’s behalf, a total of 155 illegal candidates were identified on the lists.

The North West PLC members said they stood by their call for the Motlanthe report to be implemented and they were prepared to face any action against them.

ALSO READ: ANC elective conference: Some top six candidates could be chopped from the lists

This, after they were threatened with expulsion from the ANC if they insisted on their demand.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri did not respond to a query sent to her via Whatsapp and telephonically.

– ericn@citizen.co.za