With the ANC in the Eastern Cape still grappling with legal challenges relating to the recent abortive provincial elective conference, the party’s regions have shifted focus to prepare for the 2026 local government elections.
Over the past few days, some ANC regions in the province hosted their regional general councils (RGCs), discussing plans, guidelines and strategies for the upcoming municipal polls.
ANC Eastern Cape spokesperson Yanga Zicina confirmed on Wednesday that RGCs were hosted in Amathole, Alfred Nzo, Joe Gqabi, Chris Hani and the Buffalo City Metro’s Dr WB Rubusana region between Friday and Monday.
Zicina said the gatherings were an important platform for members to renew their commitment to the people’s cause, strengthen unity, sharpen their ideological understanding of the party’s historic mission and deal with challenges.
He said the RGCs remained the party’s largest political school, bringing together delegates from ANC branches, members of the provincial executive committee, regional executive committee, the leagues, veterans, alliance partners and mass democratic movement formations.
“They serve as a platform for strengthening organisational unity, sharpening ideological understanding and discussing policy matters.
“RGCs are, therefore, a key mechanism for ensuring that national and provincial directives are disseminated to the grassroots, and that branches can provide input on the direction of the party.”
Zicina said the RGCs had, in the main, discussed the party’s roadmap and plans for the local elections.
New ward demarcations, the process to select potential councillors and mayors and updates on plans for the reconfiguration of the provincial conference were also discussed.
The ANC in the province, Zicina said, was hopeful that legal challenges that stalled the elective conference late in March would be resolved before the end of April.
Should that happen, the province could reconvene its conference by month-end.
The conference was put into “abeyance” after disgruntled party members took the ANC to court, citing alleged irregularities at branch meetings.
Party member Lwazi Rotya later obtained an interim interdict which effectively halted the gathering pending resolution of the disputes.
The matter has yet to be finalised.
Dr WB Rubusana regional secretary Anele Lizo confirmed that the RGC had on Monday discussed issues around the upcoming local elections.
Lizo said matters relating to the demarcation of new wards were being handled by the party’s national leadership, which would provide guidelines to branches across SA on how they should be addressed.
We also looked into which of our branches and voting districts had been affected by this new demarcation of wards, and also to update the general membership on the process leading up to the reconvening of the provincial conference
The ANC’s Chris Hani regional secretary, Andile Mini, said its RGC had held discussions on the process of nominating councillor candidates.
“Our RGC was to make the branches understand that we are going to local government elections and that there is a process that has been outlined by the national executive committee of starting the bids for nominations, and also to take our members through the guidelines that are there and the criteria to nominate candidates.
“We also looked into which of our branches and voting districts had been affected by this new demarcation of wards, and also to update the general membership on the process leading up to the reconvening of the provincial conference.”
It has emerged that some ANC regional leaders could miss out on mayoral positions as the national leadership rolls out a more stringent process to select the most capable candidates.
The party plans to shift away from practices where regional or provincial leaders often stepped automatically into top local government roles after an election victory.
Instead, it now wants the best people for the job, even if that means looking outside its usual structures.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula had indicated that the party would headhunt capable individuals with proven leadership, management skills and clean records.
Party leaders believe that putting skilled and ethical people in charge of municipalities will help rebuild trust among voters.
The ANC recently introduced tightened rules for candidate selection, a centralised approach aimed at raising standards and reducing the influence of internal lobbying or loyalty-based decisions.
Candidates, especially mayoral candidates, will now go through strict vetting, including criminal record checks, qualification verification and assessments of their track record.
The ANC has also opened the door for public nominations, encouraging South Africans to suggest the names of capable leaders who can serve communities effectively, marking a clear shift from previous local elections.
The party aims to finalise its mayoral candidates by the end of June.
Daily Dispatch
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