By OBAKENG MAJE
Growing concerns over the ANC councillor candidate list divide the party members. The disgruntled ANC members in Ward 14 disrupted the councillor candidates’ introduction ceremony held at Taung Depot Hall on Sunday.
The disruptive ANC members accused one of the leaders, Crespo Menyatso of manipulating the councillor candidate list. They alleged that their preferred councillor candidate, Goitsemodimo Lekaota was unduly removed from the candidate list to accommodate the ‘unknown’ candidate, Mothusiotsile Mojanaga.
Keamogetse Phutiyagae said they will not vote during Local Government Elections (LGE) on 1 November 2021 unless the ANC corrects the list.
“On 16 June 2021, we as the community of ward 14 elected Lekaota as our ward councillor candidate. We were surprised to see the name of Mojanaga emerged as the councillor candidate. We had never voted for him and even the communities in that ward do not know him.
“We only know him as the Interim Branch Committee coordinator. Now, he has been catapulted as the councillor candidate? We have written a petition and launched a dispute, but Menyatso and his cronies chose to ignore our plea,” said Phutiyagae.
She added: “Mojanaga was the Interim Branch Committee co-ordinator and we have petitioned him. As the members of the ANC in that ward, we handed over a petition to Sylvia Lucas. There is a disparity during the councillor candidate list processes and we blame Menyatso.”
Another ANC member, Kebarileng Letswalo shared the same sentiments. Letswalo said she is a loyal member of the ANC and she was surprised to hear Menyatso saying that she had never voted for the ANC.
“Menyatso is the one causing corruption in the councillor candidate. This dispute you see in ward 14 is caused by him. No one will vote on 1 November 2021. We would rather lose that ward than to see Menyatso and his cronies pushing their own interests.
“He must also tell me which political party I belong to. I want to know how he knows that I did not vote for the ANC in the previous elections because I was alone in the voting booth,” she said.
However, Menyatso refuted allegations and labelled them as ludicrous. He said he was never part of the councillor candidate list selection process.
“First and foremost, I will give you the assurance that I was not part of the list processes. If you remember, from the guidelines of the ANC, in terms of the selection of candidates, the IRC appointed IRBPC for vetting and screening processes of candidates.
“From there, that process escalated to the level of the IPC. Now, the extended IPC is the structure that makes decisions. So, I was not part of the decision-taking processes or sit in the IRBPC, extended IPC or extended NEC meeting,” he said.
Menyatso said he is just a loyal, disciplined and an ordinary member of the ANC. He further said only three candidates were proposed in ward 14 and Lekaota’s name was not part of them.
“The three candidates that were proposed were Tumelo Maboitshege, Nosipho Mokoto and Mothusiotsile Mojanaga. The ANC took a decision out of these three names. You know these comrades who are disgruntled, refused to attend the official BGM meeting. They said they cannot attend any meeting convened by Mojanaga who happened to be the IBC coordinator,” said Menyatso.
ANC deployee in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati region, Sello Lehari said all disputes will be addressed after 1 November 2021.
The Guardian 