NATIONAL NEWS - The ANC electoral committee will on Tuesday announce the names of candidates who qualified to contest leadership positions at the party’s upcoming national elective conference.
Candidates who have made themselves available to contest leadership positions include President Cyril Ramaphosa and former health minister, Zweli Mkhize.
Committee’s guidelines
According to the committee’s guidelines, ANC members who either have been placed on suspension by the party or were subject to adverse findings by the ANC integrity commission are barred from contesting for any leadership positions within the party.
While both Ramaphosa and Mkhize have appeared before the integrity commission to answer allegations made against them, the two were likely to be given the green light to contest the ANC top position.
ANC electoral committee secretary Chief Livhuwani Matsila confirmed to The Witness that party members who were placed on suspension following recommendations by the integrity commission would not be allowed to contest.
If they are on step-aside, then they will be disqualified.
Ramaphosa appeared before the integrity commission after he had been embroiled in the Phala Phala farm scandal while on the other hand Mkhize submitted himself to the commission after the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) implicated him in tender irregularities which occurred during his tenure as health minister.
However, neither Mkhize, who is currently a member of the ANC national executive committee (NEC), nor Ramaphosa have been placed on suspension, making them eligible to stand.
In recent weeks the ANC electoral committee has been consolidating candidate nomination votes from party branches across the country.
In addition to the requirement that a candidate should neither be facing criminal charges nor be subject to adverse findings by the ANC integrity committee, ANC conference guidelines also stipulate that candidates should be endorsed by a minimum of 20% of the party’s branches nationally for them to be able to stand.
Qualified candidates to be unveiled Tuesday
Chief Matsila, who declined to disclose details around the outcomes of the committee’s verification processes, said candidates who have qualified will be unveiled on Tuesday.
As such there is no need for people to speculate. The names will be announced [on Tuesday].
Other candidates vying for the ANC president position include Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Deputy President David Mabuza and Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
More than 4 000 ANC delegates are expected to participate in the conference, which is scheduled to be held at Johannesburg’s Nasrec Expo from 16 to 20 December.
