By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) has failed to unveil its mayoral candidates for the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities in the 4 November local government elections.
In its advisory the ANC was set to unveil its mayoral candidates for the 2026 local government elections at the Sandton Convention Centre, instead, only those who made the shortlist were named.
The local government elections are just three months away, and most parties are hitting the campaign trail.
The party national officials are now expected to make the final mayoral candidate selections in September.
Instead of allowing regional structures to determine the candidates, the party opened nominations to the public, alongside its branches and other structures, before candidates were screened, vetted, and interviewed.
Speaking at the announcement in Sandton, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the party has “heard people’s concerns about the state of our municipalities” and that residents have complained about leaders and councillors who are “unable or unwilling to respond to their needs”.
“These are realities that, as the ANC, we refuse to shy away from. These are realities that we are determined and committed to confront and correct.”
Ramaphosa said the ANC had established interview panels comprising party members with the expertise to identify and assess potential candidates.
“This is the most thorough process that has been undertaken by any other party,” he said.
The selection process comes as the ANC seeks to address concerns over governance, corruption, financial mismanagement and declining service delivery in municipalities where it governs.
The party has said its candidates must be capable, literate, ethical and have the integrity required to serve communities.
Ramaphosa said those deployed to municipalities would be given clear mandates and measured against specific targets.
“The same organisation that will select those comrades will be prepared to intervene where they fail to perform. And that is now the process and system that we are going to inaugurate,” he said.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said 226 people were put forward for consideration across roughly 50 municipalities and all nine provinces. He previously said the party wanted “the best of the best”.
“Today we reveal not a short list of final names, but the whole contingent: those shortlisted, those interviewed and those vetted,” Mbalula said.
He said the finalists ranged in age from 19 to 75, with an average age of 53.
“They are technically and educationally qualified: dozens hold master’s degrees, honours and undergraduate degrees, and several have doctorates among them,” Mbalula said.
He described the group as including technicians, public administration experts, teachers, lawyers, administrators, nurses, unionists and community builders.
The race in Joburg has long been between current Joburg mayor Dada Morero and his deputy mayor and ANC regional chairperson Loyiso Masuku as well veteran politician Rev Frank Chikane.
In Tshwane, MMCs Aaron Maluleka and Tlangi Mogale were joined on the list by Kgosi Maepa, Patience Moropa, and Phumeza Mangcu.
Nkosindiphile Xhakaza is said to be slugging it out with Jongizizwe Dlabathi in Ekhurhuleni, with Ntombi Mekgwe and Pelisa Nkunjana also on the shortlist.
Other notable names on the list include Mandla Mandela, a finalist for the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality in the Eastern Cape, and former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Andile Lungisa.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the eThekwini mayoral finalists include incumbent mayor Cyril Xaba, Nomusa Dube, Mina Som-Lesoma, Thabani Everson Nyawose and Maggie Govender.
The ANC heads into the elections after years of declining electoral – it won 62% of the vote in 2011, 53.9% in 2016 and 47.5% in 2021. A recent Social Research Foundation poll put the ANC at 34% nationally, ahead of the DA with 27%, but the ANC was trailing the DA in Gauteng’s three metros.