Political parties have begun campaigning to win the hearts of Joburg residents.
The announcement of Helen Zille as the DA’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg has changed the political game in the city, with other political parties being expected to field strong candidates too.
Former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba told The Citizen that he could not confirm or deny if he would throw his name in that hat for the position on behalf of his political party, ActionSA.
“ActionSA will contest Helen and all the other parties. We are not specific; the DA is not the government in Johannesburg. Our focus now is on the removal of the ANC. We will not lose focus by dealing with Zille.
“We want to bring the ANC lower so we emerge as the party that must form government, and where we govern, we govern well. You can check my track record as the mayor of Johannesburg,” he said.
The South African Communist Party (SACP), which will contest local government elections, told The Citizen that it is still finalising its candidates for mayoral positions.
Questioned if there are any big names in the party to contest in Johannesburg, the party’s spokesperson, Mbulelo Mandlana, said he does not want to speculate.
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) has announced their deputy president Kenny Kunene, as the mayoral candidate for Johannesburg. The party said Kunene has been acting mayor on two occasions and knows exactly what the City needs.
The Citizen had also reached out to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) about its mayoral candidate for Johannesburg. Comments from the party will be published once they are received.
What about the ANC candidate?
Meanwhile, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told the media on Sunday that the ANC is not ready to announce its mayoral candidate for Johannesburg.
“Public representatives will come next year when we conclude our list process.
“We do not run our election campaign based on personalities. We run the election campaign based on what the ANC has done for the people, and we account to the people on what the party has done,” he said.
ANC Joburg regional conference
Meanwhile, the ANC in Johannesburg is expected to hold its regional conference next month, and this conference will choose the party’s regional executive committee (REC).
The current regional chairperson is expected to go head-to-head with Finance MMC Loyiso Masuku at the conference for the chairperson position.
However, it is believed that Morero has the confidence of ANC branches on the ground.
Traditionally, whoever emerges as the party’s regional chairperson would be fielded as the mayoral candidate for the party in the elections.
Who can save the ANC?
Political analyst, Ntsikelelo Breakfast from the Nelson Mandela University (NMU), told The Citizen that whoever the ANC fields will not help the party win the City of Johannesburg next year.
“It does not matter who steps up to the plate it will not make the ANC win the elections things are worse under the current circumstances, the ANC know that Dada Morero in case it is him, did not do what is supposed to be done otherwise there would not be protests over services.
“When I look and try to see who can step up to the plate, I do not see anyone if you ask me, but they have their own processes of selecting candidates, but I do not think it has been effective,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s credibility
The ANC has, in some instances, used its president’s image to run for elections, but Breakfast believes this will not help the party either.
“I do not think the president has credibility. There was a time when he had credibility, but now, he has none. I mean, look at the step aside rule, they went into the elections with the names that were implicated in the Zondo commission.
“There are other people as well that Judge Zondo said he was in pain when he had to swear them in as members of parliament, they were implicated in that report, people can see that the President talks right and walks left,” he said.
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Obsession with power
Breakfast believes that the ANC has now become obsessed with positions in government over service delivery and clean governance.
“The focus has been lost; it is now about power. Remember when you sit in council or the mayoral committee, this comes with access to tenders, kickbacks and all sorts of things. It’s not only about political power, it’s also about economic exchanges,” he said.
Why DA went to Soweto?
Meanwhile, Breakfast said the DA had strategically chosen to launch its mayoral candidate in Soweto because many township residents have been failed by the ANC.
“The current leadership of Johannesburg has failed the residents, for instance, there have been protests in opposition to the shortage of water. The second point is that Soweto has been a vocal township in terms of issues of service delivery. In the previous elections, they had threatened to stay away from the polls, so because elections are around the corner, this was about reaching out to them,” he said.
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