STATEMENT OF THE NWC ON THE 2011 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS OUTCOMES
The National Working Committee (NWC) is extremely pleased with the fact that the local government elections ended on a high note with the ANC by far remaining the leading political party. The predicted low voter turn-out did not materialize as 57.64% of voters cast their vote against the predicted low 40% voter turn-out. The ANC managed to get a convincing mandate of 63.65% of all the voters which is a 2.25% decline from the 2009 election results.
The ANC performed well despite the worrisome downward trend in all the provinces except in KZN. Despite pronounced pessimism from the media and commentators, the ANC performed as follows:
Limpopo with a voter turn-out of 50.05% the ANC received an overwhelming 81.63%
Mpumalanga with a voter turn-out 55.80% the ANC received an overwhelming 78.90%
North West with a voter turn-out of 53.47% the ANC received an overwhelming 74.99%
Eastern Cape with a voter turn-out of 58.16% the ANC received an overwhelming 73.44%
Free State with a voter turn-out of 55.22% the ANC received an overwhelming 71.44%
Northern Cape with a voter turn-out of 63.36% the ANC received an overwhelming 63.57%
Gauteng with a voter turn-out 55.77% the ANC received an overwhelming 60.21%
KZN with a voter turn-out of 61.53% the ANC received 56.57%
Western Cape a voter turn-out 64.37% the ANC received 34.07%
With these result the ANC has an outright control of 198 councils which translates into 71% of all the councils in South Africa. We are also proud to pronounce that the African National Congress has 5633 councillors in all the councils which translate in the ANC having a presence in each and every council in the country.
These results must be celebrated because they constitute a massive victory for our movement. As the ANC we are humbled by the overwhelming mandate that we have received in these elections and the trust as well as the belief that the electorate in South Africa has on the ANC brand.
We assure our communities that their trust in the ANC is not taken for granted, whilst we have achieved a lot in the past years in terms of service delivery at local government level, we intend this time around to even work more diligently to improve the lives of our people for better. We would like to take a pause and salute our volunteers for their consistent and selfless effort to rally our people and manage our campaign on the ground. Without them we would not have registered a resounding success.
The ANC President Cde Jacob Zuma publicly announced that all the irregularities in our list process will be investigated after these elections. The implementation of this commitment will test the honesty and bonafides of the leadership of our movement. The following team has been appointed and is being tasked with the work of investigating instances where the guidelines were undermined and make recommendations to the National Executive Committee:
1. Nkosazana Zuma (Chair)
2. Naledi Pandor
3. Ellen Molekane
4. James Steward
5. Lehlohonolo Moloi
6. Nonzwakazi Sigxashe
7. Archie Whitehead
This team of very seasoned leaders and veterans of the ANC will focus on the manipulation of the list processes which undermined the list guidelines.
The National Working Committee has received a final lists of mayoral candidates designated in all the 198 municipalities including the seven metros that the ANC controls. These names will be announced by the various provinces in due course.
With regards to hung municipalities, the ANC has initiated a process of discussion with other parties, particularly parties that share our pro-poor philosophy, with an aim of forming coalition government in those municipalities. We are on the verge of finalizing these negotiations particularly in the KZN and Western Cape provinces. This will have a net-effect of increasing the number of municipalities controlled by the ANC.
Statement issued by Gwede Mantashe, ANC Secretary General, May 24 2011
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