This is why the ANC did not announce individual mayoral candidates ahead of the elections

The party announced more than one mayoral candidate for each municipality. Questions have been raised about the ANC’s failure to announce their individual mayoral candidates for the different municipalities around the country. On Saturday, South Africans were expecting to find out who the party will field for the different municipalities, especially the metros. But in a ceremony in Johannesburg on Saturday, the party’s secretary-general announced those that were nominated in the process or those who have reached a criticalstages of the selection process. ‘Protecting the campaign’ Sources in the party told The Citizen that this move is meant to “protect the campaign” and ensure that the party goes to the elections as a united front. “This is more about protecting the campaign… the party does not want to get into a situation where those that did not make in stop campaigning for the party because they did not make it,” said a source. The party’s national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe also told the SABC that part of the reason a single candidate was not announced for each municipality is that those that did not make it may want to “defect” to other political parties. “People must see that these are the people that were nominated by the ANC here they are, so that when they defect, they can see that this one was at the ANC event,” he said. The ANC’s strategies Meanwhile, political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast also told The Citizen that the party could have made the decision not to announce their final candidates a tactical political move. “It does make sense that you do not want to put forward one candidate because other who have fallen short might have gone through the process but fell short might not want to mobilise for the party,” he said. Breakfast also questioned the “rigorous” process that the ANC claims that their mayoral candidates have gone through. “The ANC has not done much in terms of improving the lives of the people, the evidence comes from the auditor-general’s reports, it comes from the stats in those municipalities, it comes from reports about corruption and so on,” he said. Breakfast said the ANC is trying to show that it has a “change of heart” ahead of the upcoming local government elections by emphasising on transparency and accountability. “My fear is that how do we know when the elections are over it will be back to square one,” he said. In the case of the City of Johannesburg, Breakfast believes that whoever the party puts forward as the face of their campaign the ANC will perform poorly. “The ANC is not going to win, the is no political party that is going to win,” he said.