The hunt by the African National Congress (ANC) for mayoral candidates for the metropolitan municipalities has yielded an eye-popping 5 000 applications. This was revealed by ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula at a media conference late last week.

With local government in a state of universally acknowledged crisis, and existing city administrations frequently perceived negatively by voters, the ANC has looked at bringing in people from outside the party to head its candidate lists for the November elections. It was hoped that this would revitalise voter interest, and was a particularly important strategy for South Africa’s metropolitan areas.

Mbalula said: “We received more than 5 000 applications from people who wanted to be considered. These applications did not come from members of other political parties.”

Mbalula said that of these, 150 would likely be interviewed. He added that the interview process had not yet begun, and therefore speculation on who might be frontrunners was misplaced.

"We have not even started interviewing mayors, and there is already information circulating about who the frontrunners are,” he said. He added that this speculation was placing the supposed frontrunners under “unnecessary pressure”.

He promised further that “candidates will be selected carefully”.

The ANC had initially pledged to announce its mayoral candidates for the metros by the end of June, but now intended to do so the end of July.

Not for the first time, Mbalula affirmed that the ANC would only field excellent people to represent itself and to lead South Africa’s cities.

"Municipalities are not going to be led by people with no qualifications. They are going to be led by people who are rooted in their communities, have political experience and are qualified to run municipalities,” he stated.

Municipal governance has been a long-standing crisis point in South Africa. Despite its centrality to day-to-day life and business, most municipalities are locked in some form of crisis. This applies even to those with extensive rates bases and access to skilled populations. It is also within South Africa’s metros that the ANC has encountered some of its most aggressive electoral resistance.

All indications are that the ANC’s electoral decline in South Africa’s urban areas will continue in the upcoming local government elections.

However, the ANC can point to precedents for introducing candidates from outside party ranks to stand for important positions. Action SA leader Herman Mashaba, for example, went from a career in business to heading the Democratic Alliance’s Johannesburg list in 2016 and becoming the first mayor of the city from that party. He subsequently left the party after a public falling out.