EC ANC expels councillor and orders two to resign

THE Eastern Cape ANC has expelled a councillor and ordered two more to resign following a damning report into election list manipulation.

The report was compiled by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma following an investigation into ANC list manipulation in the run-up to the local government elections in 2011.

It is the first time the province is acting on recommendations following the release of the report in 2012.

ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane yesterday confirmed acting on a recent resolution by the national executive committee that recommendations be implemented.

The first casualty is Andile Gqabi of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, who has also been expelled from the party.

The Phumulo Masualle-led provincial executive committee (PEC) has also ordered King Sabata Dalindyebo councillor Vela Gwadiso and Ntabankulu Ward 11 councillor Nonzame Zweni to resign.

The ANC had wanted its 2011 local government election candidates to be nominated and then taken to community meetings for endorsement.

However, when the final lists were submitted to the Electoral Commission, candidates who had not been endorsed were included. In some cases the candidates had criminal records.

In terms of the Municipal Electoral Act 27 of 2000, anyone with a criminal record cannot contest an election.

Gwadiso, who was a director at KSD municipality, was suspended for his alleged involvement in a R300000 electric equipment scandal. In 2012 he was found guilty by a court of law. Angered by this and other cases, some party members in areas such as OR Tambo, Amathole, Alfred Nzo and Nelson Mandela Metro regions lodged disputes. The ANC responded by announcing that Dlamini-Zuma would lead a team to probe the allegations around the country.

Of the 419 complaints countrywide, 167 were from the Eastern Cape.

“The report had three cases of by-election recommendations and we have instructed those to resign,” Mabuyane said. He said when they communicated the decision to Gqabi, he indicated he would not resign. However, he has subsequently been expelled from the party.

Zweni, Gwadiso and Gqabi could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The report stated that if found to have criminal records, councillors should be recalled immediately.

The seven-member task team, also found that:

• In OR Tambo in particular, some list processes were sanctioned by the REC while others were conducted by resident PEC members without the knowledge and mandate of the REC.
• The report further noted that almost all the disputes in the OR Tambo region were related to changes made by PEC members;
• Some of the provincial interventions “proved problematic in that valid branches were nullified and illegitimate structures were given life on grounds that they had been recognised by the PEC which had no mandate to validate branches”.
• The report recommended disciplinary action against anyone who wrongly manipulated the processes. In some cases it recommended criminal charges be laid.

Mabuyane said all other recommendations pointed to organisation problems, and that the party is also attending to those problems which include parallel structures. — zineg@dispatch.co.za