ANC tightens its rules on selection of local government leaders

News24a day ago

The ANC is implementing stricter selection processes for party leadership positions in preparation for the 2026 local government elections.
These measures aim to improve the party's image and enhance service delivery by appointing qualified leaders who can properly manage municipalities.
The new rules reflect the ANC's effort to 'clean its membership' and ensure those in leadership positions are adequately qualified for their roles.
The African National Congress (ANC) is implementing stricter selection processes for party leadership positions in preparation for the 2026 local government elections.
Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has instructed provincial structures to begin selecting quality members with proper qualifications and without tainted histories.
His views were supported by the head of the party's electoral committee, Kgalema Motlanthe, who emphasised educational qualifications.
Motlanthe also highlighted the importance of considering women first in all positions.
The party has given the provincial structure a strict task of selecting quality members with no criminal record or facing an internal disciplinary hearing.
With the 2026 local government around the corner, Mbalula has called on the party structure to commence with the selection processes of the leadership, including the mayors.
In a letter sent to provincial secretaries and ANC deployees dated 22 May, Mbalula informed them about the candidates' selection process deadline.
According to Mbalula, all the selection processes should be done by the end of July 2026.
He said this was to enable the party to be ready for the 2026 local government elections, which are expected to take place at the end of 2026.
He instructed the provincial leadership and the party deployees to urgently establish the provincial list committees (PLCs).
'Kindly find attached the letter to all provincial secretaries and NEC deployees on the deadlines for the candidate selection process. This is for the establishment of the PLCs as a matter of urgency. The Elections Committee will be making follow-up on each province in this regard,' read Mbalula's letter.
Insiders say the party is tightening the rules of deploying qualified people in government who would help redeem its dignity and improve service delivery.
The names that are going to be nominated are going to be subjected to rigorous vetting processes and thorough educational background checks.
Source
The source said strict rules aim to change the image of the party, which had been appointing people who cannot read or interpret the financial report.
'We have a lot of problems in municipalities because many leaders are failing the communities as a result of not understanding simple things,' said the source.
Mbalula's letter was also sent to the party's electoral committee led by the party's former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
Motlanthe requested the provincial secretaries to submit the names of the recommended members of the provincial list committee, which shall manage and coordinate the 2026 local government elections candidates' selection process.
The CVs and proof of qualifications for the recommended members must also be submitted, and failure to do so shall result in disqualification. The Electoral Committee shall submit recommendations for the appointment of PLC members for approval by the NEC, and names without CVs and qualifications will not be included in the submission
Motlanthe
Motlanthe said the PLC members must be respected and disciplined members of the ANC and Alliance who may not stand for any elected positions in the ANC and shall not be available for nomination and selection as public representatives.
'All PLC members must have a tertiary qualification coupled with political and/or government experience. All PLC members must have no pending criminal charges or ongoing ANC disciplinary proceedings against them,' read Motlanthe's letter dated 22 May.
Insiders say this is part of the ANC's cleaning its membership campaign.
'The reason for starting early is to enable the party to screen all the people who would be running the structures and selecting those who will be leading or be deployed in local government, like mayors, speakers and chief whips,' said the source.
To ensure that the people running the selection process do not have an interest in the party-political positions, Motlanthe requested the PECs to nominate three senior ANC members who no longer occupy elected positions in the NEC or PEC or REC, with no direct personal interest in the outcome of the candidate selection process.
He also said two of those nominated three individuals must be women.
Each of the leagues' provincial executives may also nominate one list committee member who meets the above criteria. Each of the Alliance partners plus Sanco may nominate one list committee member who meets the above criteria.
Motlanthe
According to the new rules, provincial secretaries and electoral committee members are not eligible to occupy leadership positions at the national, provincial or regional levels in their organisations.
'The Provincial Secretary will provide administrative support for the PLC and will ensure that all organisational structures implement the processes and abide by the rules determined by the Executive Committee (EC). The Provincial Secretary or Convenor shall not sit on the PLC. A provincial staff member or volunteer must be appointed as list administrator to assist the PLC by the provincial secretary and approved by the EC,' said Motlanthe.
Motlanthe said all the structures must assume that the elections would be held before the end of November; all the processes need to be concluded by the end of July 2026.

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Pork and chicken are key to easing US trade tensions: Steenhuisen

News24

37 minutes ago

News24

Pork and chicken are key to easing US trade tensions: Steenhuisen

South Africa, struggling to reset relations with the US, is willing to give way on so-called phytosanitary requirements for poultry-meat imports, but fears an impasse with its second-biggest trading partner over pork shipments. Washington's trade complaints against Pretoria — which have triggered a threat of a 30% tariff on imports from Africa's largest economy — span a range of industries from vehicles to citrus. The meat trade has also been a sticking point, with US producers viewing Pretoria's animal-health requirements as a constraint on doing business, according to Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen. The health rules and excise duty charged on pork and chicken from the US 'are the two key focus areas' in easing trade tensions, he said in an interview at a meat conference in Somerset West near Cape Town on Thursday. Differences between the two nations extend beyond trade — President Donald Trump has spread the false conspiracy theory that white farmers have been subjected to a genocide in South Africa and the authorities have been seizing their land. There have been no official land seizures in South Africa since apartheid ended in 1994. The US has also criticized South Africa for taking Israel to an international court over its war with Hamas in Gaza and its relations with American foes, including Iran. To assuage concerns over its restrictions on poultry imports from countries that have avian influenza outbreaks, South Africa plans to allow the US to determine when it should halt and resume exports. 'What we've done is build a new system of self-ban, self-lift,' Steenhuisen said. 'We hope that this will be seen as a removal of what they've regarded as a trade barrier.' The minister considered it unlikely the two countries will resolve their difference over South Africa's requirements that glands be removed from pork meat prior to it being sold in the country — a measure intended to avoid the spread of the highly contagious porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome disease. 'They regard that as a trade barrier because they say that that process renders their meat uncompetitive,' Steenhuisen said. 'It's going to be one of those impasses because we cannot compromise our local pork sector.' South Africa is one of a handful of nations that are free of the disease, and if it were detected it would increase pork production costs as pigs would have to be vaccinated against it, said Peter Evans, the chief executive officer of the South African Pork Producers' Organisation. 'It's a disease we want to keep out of the country,' he said in an interview. The US is 'irked by it. They perceive it as a hindrance to large-scale exports.' The US also complains that tariffs of about 62% on poultry imports, along with the health requirements, have stopped it from filling its annual quotas of about 70,000 tons of chicken meat that it is permitted to ship into South Africa, according to the agriculture minister. That levy, along with those imposed on cars and farm equipment, are higher than those charged on products from the European Union, with which South Africa has a trade agreement. The US has, until recently, given a range of South African goods duty-free to its markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). 'Their argument is that we are giving you AGOA and all of these things, but you are giving our competitors a better deal,' Steenhuisen said.