In a remarkable turnaround for the African National Congress (ANC), the party has offered the broader South African public an opportunity to nominate its mayoral candidates for the upcoming local government elections.

In a theatrically worded statement, it linked the invitation for what it termed “public nomination for the centralised selection of the ANC mayoral candidates” to its history, particularly the 1955 Freedom Charter: “The Freedom Charter, adopted by the people themselves at the Congress of the People at Kliptown on 26 June 1955, teaches that 'the people shall govern', and that 'every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws'. Local government is the sphere of the state closest to the daily lives of our people. It is the sphere in which the teaching of the Charter must find its most direct expression. The African National Congress, in this hour, turns to the people of South Africa and asks the country to participate directly in identifying those who will carry the responsibility of municipal leadership as mayors in the next term.”

Any South African, whether a member of the ANC or not, can submit a nomination for any other person. People who are not members of the ANC may also nominate themselves. The process would “genuinely” be open to all, though all nominees would need to be South African citizens of “integrity and capacity”.

“The door is extended first; the question of membership comes later,” the statement read. This would be in keeping with the belief that the party belonged to the people of South Africa.

The statement continued that this would one of a number of channels available to nominate potential candidates. ANC provincial and regional executive committees would do so through party structures, while ANC-affiliated bodies such as the South African National Civics Organisation and the Congress of South African Trade Unions would do the same, as the various Leagues had their own processes. “And now, through this public nomination stream, the people themselves nominate.”

Selection would be carried out by “officials of the movement”.

The statement went on to say: “The movement asks the country to come forward with women and men of integrity, of competence, and of demonstrable readiness to carry these offices in the service of the people. We are choosing, in this cycle, those who will restore the water and the lights, fix the potholes, clear the refuse, keep the municipal offices honest, and bring local government back to the standard the Freedom Charter has always demanded of it.”

Opening its nominations process represents a significant change in the approach the ANC has long taken: longstanding loyalty and service to the party have been indispensable requirements (though public integrity has been a more flexible requirement).

The party has come in for stinging criticism of its widespread mismanagement of municipal government, and will be hoping that fresh faces might counter some of this. Polling by the Social Research Foundation, however, suggests that the ANC’s reputation is at a particular low; for example, it is now more closely associated with the term “anti-poor” than any other party.

Readers of The Common Sense wishing to make themselves available for an ANC mayoral position can apply here.