Dada Morero’s faction of the ANC is intent on proving allegations of vote rigging at the ANC Joburg regional conference last year.
Questions are still swirling about the authenticity of the outcomes of the ANC’s regional elective conference, held in December last year.
The conference saw Loyiso Masuku emerge as the new chairperson of the ANC in Johannesburg, but a faction that supports Joburg mayor Dada Morero believes the conference was rigged.
The ANC and the police are now investigating allegations of vote buying and potential vote rigging.
This also comes after ballot papers used at this conference were found at a house in Pretoria on Sunday. It has been reported that the house belongs to the owner of the elections agency that oversaw the electoral process.
Morero has complained to the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, about the relationship that the owner of the election agency has with Masuku.
Mbalula’s intervention
With all these developments taking place, the region’s spokesperson Mantombi Nkosi told The Citizen that the region will meet on Monday to discuss its next step forward.
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Mbalula confirmed to the media over the weekend that there are several complaints about the ANC Johannesburg conference.
“Allegations and complaints and so on, if they are not tested, they remain rumours. So, we heard about money and all of that, but it has not been tested that money indeed exchanged hands.
“All other issues that are being raised with the secretary general, I have received all those complaints and I have sent them to the electoral commission, which includes NEC members and members of the provincial task team to respond to those.
“They will respond and report back to the secretary-general, the SG will then communicate with the complainants,” he said.
Mbalula said he will be able to report back on this matter in a week.
Meanwhile, the SABC reported that the ballot papers that were found still contained the information of some of the contestants at the elective conference.
The ballots were reportedly found at the back of the house in black plastic bags. There were senior ANC officials at the site of this discovery, including NEC member Sihle Zikalala and Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who also serves on the ANC’s deployment committee in Gauteng.
Background
Masuku won the regional conference with 184 votes, while Morero received 149 votes.
Before the results could be announced Morero had already spoken out to the media about the “devil of money” in ANC politics.
His faction claimed that there were exchanges of money and other goods at the conference. But the newly appointed leadership of the party in Johannesburg claimed not to know anything about these exchanges.
Morero is still serving as mayor despite some of his own party members in council calling for his resignation and the appointment of Masuku as mayor.
Traditionally, the ANC regional chairperson is considered to be the party’s preferred mayoral candidate, but Luthuli House has allowed Morero to continue in his role.
Masuku and Morero are political enemies. The contestation between them has divided the ANC and threatened the functioning of the government of local unity.
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