The African National Congress (ANC) says it will not reveal its mayoral candidates as yet for the upcoming local government elections. It says prospective councillors include workers, young people, women, people with disabilities and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) community.
The party says it has allowed communities to choose who they want as their councillors.
“We will not be able to give you the Metros right now. We put the names in and we don’t announce our mayors like other political parties. If the ANC nominated you, but the community nominated someone else, the candidate that was ultimately the one comes from the community” ANC Deputy Secretary-General, Jessie Duarte said.
VIDEO: ANC Media Briefing on Local Government Elections Candidates Submission
The ANC says more than half of the councillors in the candidate list submitted to the IEC before the cut-off time are new.
Briefing the media before the IEC deadline on Monday evening, Duarte said their list has a 50% women representation and 25 % representation of young people.
She says they only managed to retain less than 50% of the councillors elected in 2016 making some members unhappy.
Statement of @MYANC national executive committee on the conclusion of its candidate selection for local government elections held virtually on 21 August 2021. pic.twitter.com/FtiEs6yFH1
— African National Congress (@MYANC) August 23, 2021
