But the ANC says its candidate is the right person to fix the broken municipality.
The DA in Gauteng says it is shocking that the ANC has announced Hassan Mako as its mayoral candidate for the Emfuleni Local Municipality.
Mako served as the MMC for Finance under the disgraced former mayor, Sipho Radebe, who was recently removed for service-delivery failures.
Radebe’s resignation, at the request of the ANC, came shortly after the DA scooped a ward in Evaton in a by-election. That victory was said to have left the ANC in a panic.
The DA’s mayoral candidate for Emfuleni, Kingsol Chabalala, told The Citizen on Thursday that Mako was part of the leadership that ran Emfuleni to the ground.
“As MMC for Finance, Hassan Mako has failed to restore financial stability in Emfuleni. Under his watch, the municipality’s debt to Eskom and Rand Water has remained a serious concern, with little progress made in reducing these liabilities.
“This has resulted in repeated legal actions by both utilities, including the attachment of municipal bank accounts to recover outstanding debts.
“These developments raise serious questions about his ability to lead the municipality effectively as mayor,” said Chabalala.
Right man for the job
But in a statement on Wednesday, the ANC’s Gauteng Provincial Task Team (PTT) spokesperson, Mzi Khumalo, said the party is confident that Mako is the right man for the task ahead.
“This decision follows a process undertaken by the ANC National Office Bearers. It involved rigorous interviews after receiving three nominations from the ANC Sedibeng Regional Executive Committee.
“Comrade Mako brings with him extensive experience as both a community development worker and ward councillor for Ward 37. He was later appointed as MMC for Finance in Emfuleni.
“Comrade Mako rose through the ranks of the ANC Youth League, serving as branch secretary, branch chairperson, and ANCYL zonal chairperson,” said Khumalo.
Recycled leaders
However, Chabalala believes that the residents of Emfuleni are tired of the same recycled ANC leaders.
“The ANC’s announcement of Hassan Mako as its mayoral candidate for Emfuleni is unlikely to change the political reality on the ground.
“Residents have endured years of service-delivery failures, deteriorating infrastructure, and governance challenges under ANC leadership. For many voters, changing the candidate does not erase the municipality’s track record,” he said.
‘People are not stupid’
Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast told The Citizen on Wednesday that the ANC’s brand has been damaged by decades of corruption and poor service delivery in the communities it serves.
“People are not stupid. You do not vote for the person, you vote for the party that person contests under, the banner of the ANC… the political longevity of the ANC has been affected by institutionalised corruption, that is the problem,” he said.
Breakfast said what residents want is a political party that can deliver the basic services they need.
“What people have realised is that the ANC has not been getting votes because of its service-delivery track record but because of its memory of the liberation struggle,” he said.
Breakfast predicts that the ANC will not perform well in the upcoming local government elections.
“Their electoral performance trajectory will be downwards, it will not be upwards. Remember, now young people are the eligible voters or, rather, the majority of young people are eligible voters.
“We must understand that they are getting impatient with the people that are not honouring the social contract, and that is the reality that we have to grapple with,” he said.