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It is a sad irony that, as political parties gathered yesterday to pledge to uphold the Independent Electoral Commission’s code of conduct, the ANC announced that they would not reveal the names of their mayoral candidates in any municipality except Cape Town.

At the signing of the pledge in Midrand, over 20 participating political parties undertook to abide by the values of the constitution, and emphasised the importance of ensuring that voters receive the information they need to make an informed choice. Mayors in an Executive Mayoral System have significant powers. Voters have the right to know who they will be voting for to fill these crucial positions. Over the past five years they have seen what a crucial difference competent mayors can make in local government.

Why did the ANC make an exception of Cape Town? ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, provided the answer to this question when he conceded that Tony Ehrenreich was foisted on the ANC by COSATU. It is quite clear that COSATU gave the ANC an ultimatum that it could not refuse. And in a further significant admission, Mantashe said the nomination of mayoral candidates in other towns and cities would cause much more division in ANC ranks prior to elections.

We believe that voters have the right to know who the contending mayoral candidates are, especially of those parties that stand a chance of winning in various towns and cities.

We challenge the ANC to name their mayoral candidates of all their winnable municipalities. It makes no sense to only name a candidate in the metro the ANC is least likely to win. That is treating the voters with contempt.

When the ANC has named its candidates for the major metros, the DA will challenge the ANC’s mayoral candidates in each city to a public debate so that the voters can compare the track records in local government of the DA and the ANC and make an informed choice. We look forward to debating all ANC Mayoral candidates once they have been announced. Until such time, we will continue to put forward our vision for local government.