9 rogue councillors face chop

Pretoria - At least nine ANC councillors in the Tshwane Metro Council were dubiously selected as candidates for the 2011 local government elections, with some having criminal records while one was facing a rape charge at the time.

This is according to the ANC NEC task team set up to probe allegations of irregular processes in selecting candidates for the 2011 local government elections in Tshwane. It paints a bleak picture of processes that were manipulated to suit individuals.

The report, compiled by the ANC task team, led by NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, recommends the removal of at least nine councillors in the Tshwane region.

The selection processes were fatally flawed as a result of irregularities including nepotism, intimidation of branch members and the leaking of information to candidates by screening committees, the report says.

The task team recommends these councillors be removed and the entire processes in those wards be redone – but more than six months after the report was handed to the NEC, most of them remain in their positions.

The report says at least nine councillors are not supposed to be in their positions, with the task team having found evidence of the manipulation of list processes.

The recall or removal of the councillors will lead to by-elections in these wards, where the ANC would have to fight for re-election against opposition parties.

Tshwane ANC regional secretary Paul Mojapelo said this was an NEC report. The issue was being handled by the NEC and the provincial leadership, he said and referred questions to them.

The ANC in Gauteng, however, said it had started briefing branches and regions about the the report’s contents and implementing its recommendations.

Spokesman Dumisa Ntuli said branches were being briefed about the report to implement the recommendation made by the task team.

The report was presented to the NEC, which has issued a directive for the full implementation of the task team’s recommendations.

NEC deployee in the province and the region, Susan Shabangu, was also presented with the report, as were deployees in other regions and provinces in which flawed processes had been identified.

The report said a councillor in one of the city’s wards, whose name is known to the Pretoria News, allegedly has a rape case pending against him but was put forward as a candidate regardless.

“Due to the flaws in the screening process and the serious rape allegations, the ANC processes must be redone. The regional executive committee (REC) should assist the branch to deal with gate-keeping and the constitutionality of suspensions,” Dlamini Zuma recommends in the report.

She also recommended the removal of Ward 18 councillor, Gogo Ndlovana, who was dismissed as head of examinations by the Mpumalanga Department of Education in 2000 after being fingered as the “mastermind” behind the leaking of exam papers.

Allegations of nepotism were also levelled against Ndlovana and the task team discovered her relatives were part of the screening committee in the ward.

”Due to the manipulation, irregularities and the element of nepotism and serious allegations against the councillor (Ndlovana), the councillor should be removed and the ANC process should be redone,” the report said.

Ndlovana is now the chairperson of the oversight committee for health and social development in the Tshwane Metro Council.

The task team also recommended processes be redone in Ward 48, where it found evidence of irregularities, in that among the officials tasked with registration was a daughter of the nominee who was campaigning for her parent.

Warnings issued to the regional deployee at that meeting were ignored and the meeting turned violent.

Concerns were also raised in the report about the state of the party’s branches in Hammanskraal, where violence erupted during the process, resulting in the arrest and subsequent withdrawal of charges against councillor George Matjila, who is also a member of the regional executive committee.

It was also recommended that processes be redone in Ward 86 in Nellmapius, where screening committee members were alleged to have leaked information to some nominees, giving them an advantage against other nominees interviewed by the screening committee.

The report said nominee, Precious Marule, had a criminal record – having been convicted of forging qualifications – and she was fired by the Correctional Services Department.

The dismissal was confirmed by the task team, which recommended that the councillor be recalled and the entire process be redone.

In Mamelodi, in Ward 23, the screening process was found to be “fatally flawed and compromised” as members in good standing were excluded from the selection process, and there were serious divisions within the screening committee.

ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said most of the report’s recommendations were being implemented across the provinces and regions.

“The provinces have looked into the report and its recommendations. They are being implemented, that is why we’ve had by-elections in some areas. The directive from the NEC was that the report is accepted and that the recommendations of the task team must be implemented,” said Khoza.

Pretoria News