Twenty-nine political parties and five independent candidates will contest the November 4 local government elections in the Buffalo City Metro, vying for representation in the 100-seat council.
The final candidate list released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reveals a crowded electoral field, with the established parties facing competition from a host of smaller political groupings.
The parties will compete for 50 ward seats and 50 proportional representation (PR) seats, while the five independent candidates will contest individual wards.
The ANC holds an outright majority in Buffalo City, one of only two metros in the country it currently completely controls.
Nine political parties are represented in the outgoing council — the ANC, DA, EFF, UDM, PAC, ATM, ACDP, African Independent Congress (AIC) and FF+.
However, the latest candidate list includes many parties not represented in council, including the SACP, ActionSA, the MKP, COPE, Rise Mzansi, the Patriotic Alliance, IFP and Al Jama-ah.
Smaller parties in the race include the African Congress for Transformation, African Heart Congress, African Movement Congress, African People’s Convention, African Unemployed Congress and the Floyd Shivambu-led Afrika Mayibuye Movement.
The Arusha Economic Coalition, One Love Alliance, Progressive Community Movement, Service Delivery Party, Social Democratic Movement and Thina Bantu Movement are also fielding candidates.
The five independents competing for ward seats, offering voters an alternative to the political parties, are: Wandisile Ralane in Ward 17, Njongo Mgayi (Ward 42), Simphiwe Mayoyo (Ward 39), Donita Engelbrecht (Ward 46) and Siyabonga Nkonyeni (Ward 48).
According to the IEC’s candidate list, the AIC has submitted two names, current councillor Vusumzi Tutu and Phakamile Hlonela.
The two are contesting in all the metro wards for both ward councillor and PR seats, while COPE’s Pieter Van Sens is the party’s sole listed candidate. He is also contesting in all 50 wards.
The One Love Alliance’s Lucinda Groep is standing in most of the metro’s wards.
Three members of the Ndindwa family — Zukile, Nosipho and Phillip — are contesting in numerous wards under the banner of the African Unemployed Congress.
The IFP, which has its traditional support base in KwaZulu-Natal, will contest in wards 10, 27, 31, 32, 38, 41 and 48.
The Service Delivery Party has listed Siviwe Mpambani and Sinethemba Blaau as its candidates for all wards in the metro.
Former EFF MPL Themba Wele’s Thina Bantu Movement is standing in wards 31, 46 and 50.
The finalisation of the candidate lists has been marred by disputes involving the UDM and ANC, both of which are pursuing legal avenues to have excluded candidates reinstated.
UDM deputy president and Buffalo City mayoral candidate Nqabayomzi Kwankwa is the only candidate from the party whose name appears on the IEC’s certified PR list, while its intended ward candidates are absent.
The party maintains that it submitted the names of its ward candidates, many of whom had defected from the ANC, before the August 28 deadline.
It has threatened legal action against the IEC over the omission.
This follows an unsuccessful application by the ANC to the Electoral Court to have the names of candidates it maintained it submitted before the deadline included in the certified lists for several Eastern Cape municipalities.
The ANC has indicated that it intends to appeal against the court’s decision.
Kwankwa said on Friday that the UDM had written to the IEC several times in an attempt to resolve the matter.
“I understand that the difficulties confronting Buffalo City are not isolated.
“I want our comrades in every affected region to know that they are not forgotten.
“The UDM will explore all possible partnerships and every lawful avenue available to ensure that our candidates and comrades have an opportunity to serve in council alongside us and contribute to the work of building a better Buffalo City,” Kwankwa said.
Meanwhile, the ANC in Buffalo City has backed a decision by the party’s national leadership to appoint a forensic investigator to probe allegations that its internal candidate lists were tampered with, particularly in the Eastern Cape.
The names of some prominent ANC leaders in the province were allegedly removed from the lists shortly before the deadline for submission.
The ANC’s Dr WB Rubusana region secretary Anele Lizo said in a statement that it believed its candidate list had been altered without authorisation.
“The regional executive committee maintains its view that the candidates list of our region was altered without following due and proper organisational processes.
“Our submitted list contained changes that were not endorsed by internal organisational structures ...
“This is an extremely serious organisational breach that cannot be dismissed as an administrative error or reduced to a contest between personalities,” Lizo said.
Daily Dispatch