The disgruntled residents complained about the four nominated candidates for the ward councillor position that were selected on May 26 at an ANC’s branch general meeting.
Their main concern is the re-nomination of Thomson Nkuna, the current ward councillor who has been in the same position for over 10 years.
They alleged that Nkuna has failed the community with regard to service delivery.
“We don’t have roads, when I had to give birth to my last born, the ambulance could not enter due to impassable roads.
I had to go to the main road while in labour to get to the ambulance,” said Mhani Ngobeni, a resident of Ward 16.
They said that their preferred candidate is Victor Baloyi.
“He has proven to us that he cares about the well-being of the people.”
She alleged that Nkuna hardly conducts any community meetings.
There have also been accusations of tampering and unduly influencing during the nomination process.
Baloyi told Herald that Nkuna and Jonas Mahesu, the Nkamela branch chairperson, never pitched at meetings where they had to announce the candidates to the community.
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Meanwhile, Mahesu told the Herald that Baloyi was present at the meeting where the candidates were chosen and that he did not raise his concerns during the meeting.
“I don’t think it is acceptable for a member of the ANC to nominate himself, the party made a unanimous decision.
“If he was an independent candidate, he can challenge the candidates during the election.
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Mahesu said a meeting to introduce the candidates will be held once pandemic regulations are eased.
Meanwhile the ANC Mopani spokesperson, Peter Ngobeni told the Herald that there are internal platforms within the party to deal with problems members might have.
He said disgruntled members can write a formal letter to the regional executive committee who will attend to it, otherwise such complaints are void.
“We urge branches to deal with matters maturely.
We discourage any violence and we don’t want a situation where people get into fights or even lose their lives,” Ngobeni said.
Baloyi said that he had been raising these issues within the party structures, but was ignored.
