Ekurhuleni mayoral hopeful Jongizizwe Dlabathi caught up in list manipulation claims

African National Congress (ANC) Ekurhuleni mayoral hopeful Jongizizwe Dlabathi has his own nomination under dispute in one ward, while several other candidates who passed through the regional machinery he headed as secretary have ended up in internal disputes and the Johannesburg High Court.

The convergence places Dlabathi in an unusual position in the ANC’s municipal election campaign.

He is number one on the party’s final Ekurhuleni proportional representation list and among the names considered for mayor. But he was also regional secretary during much of the candidate-selection process, placing his office inside the administrative machinery through which branch discrepancies, Regional Executive Committee (REC) deployments and requests for explanations moved. He resigned from the regional secretary position at the end of August.

READ MORE: BREAKING | ANC bigwig Jongizizwe Dlabathi quits as Ekurhuleni MMC, party secretary

Now one of the disputed nomination documents carries his own name.

In Ward 47, Zwelakhe Maziya branch chairperson Mduduzi Zwane lodged a complaint after a Form 5 dated July 15 reflected Dlabathi and REC member Lovemore Chauke among six PR nominees.

The branch says that was not the package approved at its branch general meeting.

Its July 17 complaint alleges the nomination documents were amended without authority and says only packages presented, discussed and approved during the meeting had been signed. It alleges Sergio Mkhefa was removed and replaced by a name recorded as “Jongizizwe Mhlabathi”, while Simphiwe Patose was replaced by “Lovemore”.

Ward 47 complaint reaches Mbalula

The Form 5 seen by Sunday World carries the names Jongizizwe Dlabathi and Lovemore Chauke. The PR section lists six names but reflects no vote totals in the adjacent column.

The branch complaint was escalated through ANC structures and, Sunday World understands, ultimately sent to secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s office.

READ MORE: Lungisa accuses Mbalula of ordering his removal from ANC list

But Ward 47 is only one part of the Ekurhuleni problem.

Across the region, branch members have complained about candidate outcomes changing, being reopened or becoming stalled between community and branch processes and finalisation.

Ward 89 shows how close Dlabathi’s regional office was to those problems.

On August 11, Dlabathi wrote to branch secretaries and ward task team coordinators after the Gauteng Provincial Task Team detected differences between candidates emerging from public meetings and those produced by subsequent BGMs.

“The Provincial Task Team has noted with concern that, in certain branches, the candidates emerging from the second BGM differ from those who emerged from the respective public meetings,” he wrote.

Ward 89 was ordered to explain.

At its community process, Kgotso Mashigo received 125 votes against Patrick Vusimuzi Mthuli’s 80. But the later branch ballot reversed their positions: Mthuli received 44 votes, Mafanga 34 and Mashigo 14.

Ward 89 dispute reaches court

The regional office therefore knew the two processes had produced competing outcomes and sought an explanation.
Mashigo nevertheless ultimately appeared as the ANC candidate. Mthuli went to the Johannesburg High Court on September 7 seeking intervention over the candidacy.

Nor was that the only court fight.

Seven ANC members — Conny Kekana, Pitsi-Bhoshomane Branch chairperson Ayanda Qakoza; branch secretary Sethlake Sehlare, Tshepo Kgatle, Mlatudi Letsoha, Lerato Tsotetsi and Funiwe Kolose — approached the Johannesburg High Court on September 7, challenging the ANC’s candidate-finalisation process in wards 48, 49, 50, 62 and 112.

Their application asks, in different wards, for earlier BGM or community-meeting outcomes to be recognised and referred back to the ANC Electoral Committee for final determination.

READ MORE: ANC member asks high court to block IEC from accepting party list

Qakoza and Sehlare are significant because they are not simply disappointed aspirants. They are the chairperson and secretary of the Pitsi-Bhoshomane Branch in Ward 50.

Ward 50 adds another layer to Dlabathi’s position.

Members there say a candidate emerged from the BGM and was subsequently confirmed at a community meeting. They allege the outcome was then challenged through Dlabathi rather than the Provincial Dispute Resolution Committee (PDRC), and another community process was ordered. Ward 50 later formed part of the five-ward High Court application, where applicants want the July 12 community outcome recognised.

Elsewhere, Ward 52 members allege a PDRC instruction that the branch reconvene was frustrated. In Ward 112, members say a BGM produced a candidate identified as Mashao before the community meeting that should have followed was stopped after intervention involving regional structures. Ward 112 also ended up in the High Court case.

Dlabathi denies interference

Dlabathi rejects suggestions that he interfered with candidate nominations.

He told Sunday World that he had no direct role in deciding whom branches nominated, never attended any of Ekurhuleni’s 112 nomination meetings and never handled nomination packages.

“I had no direct role in who must be nominated by any of the branches, including Ward 47, either for the ward councillor candidate or PR,” he said.

Dlabathi said nomination packages were completed by branch leaders and REC deployees and sent directly to the Provincial List Committee.

He said the deputy regional secretary handled deployments because he was himself part of the nomination process.

“There was no prospect to interfere on my part,” Dlabathi said.

He said candidate selection remained in the hands of branch leadership throughout the process.

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