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ANC says it will field its own candidate for Joburg mayor election

Image: PHILLIP NOTHNAGEL/ DAILY DISPATCH

The ANC in Gauteng has confirmed that it will field its own candidate for the council vote for the new Johannesburg mayor to replace outgoing incumbent  Herman Mashaba in the City of Johannesburg. The vote takes place tomorrow.

ANC Gauteng leadership said on Wednesday it received three names from the Johannesburg region for consideration.

“After considering the proposed names the PEC mandated the provincial office bearers to engage with the national officials as part of a process to finalise the ANC’s candidate. Once this is concluded the ANC will publicly announce its candidate,” the party said.

But the party has refused to give out the three names under consideration.

Sowetan reported on Wednesday that the DA has conceded that it could lose the City of Johannesburg if it fails to strike a deal with the EFF by tomorrow.

This came after the EFF leadership allegedly  refused to take calls from the DA which seeks backing for its own candidate and current finance MMC Funzi Ngobeni to replace Mashaba.

DA provincial chair John Moodey said they were aware of the possibility of losing the mayorship tomorrow because the EFF had refused to engage them after their political divorce earlier this year.

“If the EFF does not vote with us on Thursday, we are going to lose the metro,” Moodey said.

“There are no negotiations with the EFF. We tried to open up to them but…we are now going to go to in the sitting in good faith and hope that the EFF votes in good faith.”

Earlier this year, the EFF said it would cease to vote with the DA and announced that it would field its own candidate following Mashaba’s resignation. Sowetan reported on Wednesday that the EFF has nominated Musa Novela as their candidate.

EFF leader Julius Malema last week complained that the DA had made matters worse by announcing Funzi Ngobeni as its mayoral candidate without consulting them as voting partners.

There are 269 seats in the council, with 121 belonging to the ANC while the DA’s coalition has 115 seats. This means the EFF, with its 30 seats, is once again the kingmaker.

The other three seats belong to FF Plus, Al Jama-ah and the Patriotic Alliance.

Should the EFF decide to abstain from the vote, the ANC would win as the DA coalition will not have enough votes to clinch the mayorship.

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