Lungani Zungu
The ANC is struggling to get its house in order as it lurches from one crisis to the next.
The ruling party faces the embarrassing prospect of not contesting municipal elections in at least 36 out of 257 municipal councils.
This is after it failed to submit a full list of ward candidates to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) last week.
The party is now pinning its hopes on the pending ConCourt decision, which has yet to rule whether or not the elections, set for 27 October, should be postponed.
The ANC is crossing fingers that the apex court postpones the election as this would allow them to send in a full list of candidates.
Among the provinces where the ANC failed to submit complete lists are Mpumalanga, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Eastern Cape.
In Mbombela, an ANC stronghold in Mpumalanga, the party registered only 29 out of 45 candidates.
In KZN, the party failed to register PR candidates in eDumbe, AbaQulusi, Nongoma and uPhongolo.
These are crucial rural areas where a party like the IFP and the ANC have a support base.
Not being able to field candidates will lead to the ANC losing votes to either the IFP or the DA, which is making inroads in rural areas.
The ANC also failed to submit candidates for some wards in Tshwane, Gauteng.
In a bizarre move, the ANC filed papers in the Electoral Court to have the IEC reopen its system but withdrew the application on Tuesday, pending the outcome of the ConCourt decision.
The ANC failure to submit the candidates list adds to the catalogue of woe for the 109-year-old party, including infighting and factionalism.
The party is also broke and has failed to pay some of its bills for three months.
Political analyst Prince Mashele said these were glaring pointers of a party on the brink of collapse.
“This is the beginning of the end,” he said.
If the elections go ahead in October, he said ANC supporters would likely vote for other parties, while others would stay away from the polls.
This would hinder the ANC’s bid to win back lost ground after the 2016 local government elections, he said.
