Another dispute over an ANC candidate list ahead of local elections
· Citizen
With the councillor candidates’ nomination submission deadline being days away, disputes over the Eastern Cape ANC candidate list seem to be multiplying.
Concerned ANC branch members demand that the party’s PR list process at Joe Gqabi in Aliwal North must be stopped and reviewed for possible manipulation.
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Stopping the process could mean Joe Gqabi and others miss the deadline set by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) for candidate nomination lists to be submitted. The IEC has announced 5pm on Friday 28 August as the final deadline for nomination submissions.
Uproar after senior ANC member excluded
A senior ANC member and Joe Gqabi district municipality councillor has been excluded from the party list, causing an uproar from her branch. The branch has petitioned the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) and its provincial list committee (PLC) to halt list submissions to the IEC until the matter is rectified.
ANC Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi and the PLC have been asked to intervene and probe alleged rigging of the process by the party’s regional secretary, Vikita Dontsa. He is accused of manipulating the ANC PR candidates list and excluding his arch-rival, Aphiwe Skoti, who is a senior regional member, allegedly because of a personal vendetta against her.
The ANC Boyce Nondala branch member in the Joe Gqabi region, Nkosikho Skoti, has petitioned Ngcukayitobi and the party’s provincial list committee to intervene on behalf of Aphiwe Skoti, who was allegedly being harassed by Dontsa. Aphiwe is a member of the branch.
Nkosikho Skoti condemned what he called Aphiwe Skoti’s “arbitrary and factional exclusion for the 2026 local government elections. He said the PEC and the PLC must intervene to rectify “this clear breach of organisational rules” by Dontsa.
Aphiwe Skoti’s branch described her as “an active ANC member in good standing” at the Boyce Nondala branch and added that she served all ANC constitutional structures in the region.
She served as a member of the Joe Gqabi regional executive committee, ANC Women’s League, ANC Youth League and is currently acting chief whip at the Joe Gqabi district council. Aphiwe also has a post-matric qualification of a diploma in public management, which is required to qualify as a candidate.
They requested the PEC to halt and review the list process in the Joe Gqabi region, as submitted by Dontsa, and for Aphiwe Skoti to be reinstated on the PR list. The branch further asked the PEC to take disciplinary action against Dontsa for tampering with the list and for his verbal abuse of party members.
Mayoral candidates for Buffalo City
Meanwhile, the ANC Women’s League in the Dr WB Rubusana region at KuGompo in the Eastern Cape has welcomed the release of four party mayoral candidates for the Buffalo City municipality by the ANC national executive committee.
The candidates are Simphiwe ‘Piya’ Dzengwa, current mayor Princess Faku, Ncedo Kumbaca and Nocawe Mafu.
“These four candidates have demonstrated that they are equal to the task, which is why the ANC has entrusted them with this responsibility,” it said.
In another development, Luthuli House confirmed that it had received a letter from the lawyers representing aggrieved ANC branch members in Buffalo City who accused the leadership of violating its rules by interfering with the selection of candidates. ANC attorneys, however, said the party could not provide the members’ attorneys with a substantial response to their grievances.
However, it stated the party’s present position should not be construed as an admission of the allegations by the concerned ANC members.