African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Fikile Mbalula has announced that the decision as to the party’s candidate for Johannesburg mayor will rest with its most senior leadership, and not with the partys regional structures.

He was addressing the media at the party headquarters, Luthuli House, in Johannesburg.

The ANC’s “top seven” officials would be taking the decision. “The officials have been given a mandate to take a decision. If the officials decide Loyiso is the right mayor, or Dada is the right mayor, that’s the decision that will have been taken.”

Loyiso Masuku is the deputy mayor of Johannesburg and the organisation’s regional chairperson. Dada Morero is the current mayor of Johannesburg.

By virtue of her prominent position in the ANC hierarchy, Masuku has been touted by some in the party as the natural choice for the mayoral office should the ANC be able to win the city.

Most recently, ANC deputy secretary general Nomvula Mokonyane and the party’s Johannesburg regional secretary, Sasabona Manganye, indicated at a public event that Masuku is the natural choice for the mayorship. They added that it would be positive to have a “woman on top”.

Mbalula, however, countered that selecting mayors was a national competence in the party.

Mayoral candidates have emerged as a key element of the Johannesburg local elections, largely because of the high-visibility role of the Democratic Alliance’s Helen Zille. The ANC has notably failed to settle on a candidate, reflecting severe divisions in the party.

It has named three contenders, Masuku, Morero, and veteran member Rev. Frank Chikane. Chikane is widely seen as the choice of the party leadership, able to project a sense of gravitas and integrity into the ANC’s electoral offering.

However, a pledge to announce its mayoral candidates at a high-profile event in August came to nothing (it ended up merely introducing its already-known candidates for the party nomination). Recent reports indicate that it will not be announcing candidates at all prior to the election. President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed this earlier this week, saying that the ANC was reverting to its “tried and tested” approach of not informing the public of its mayoral pick until after the vote.

The ANC is going to the polls deeply divided and committing to a particular choice could influence whether structures loyal to opposing factions will demonstrate any enthusiasm for campaigning. Rev, Chikane has not been included on the ANC’s list of candidates for Johannesburg submitted to the Electoral Commission. (Mbalula called this an error.)

Ironically, South Africa’s local electoral system does not explicitly cater for mayoral candidacies. There is no direct vote for mayor, this being decided by a vote of the municipal council.