ROAD TO 2024 ELECTIONS
Veterans Dugmore and Rasool enter Parliament battle as parties ink their lists
At a time when the ANC is facing a decline in national electoral support, former Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool is set to make a return to the party.
Former Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool looks set to return to active politics as the ANC in the Western Cape is sending his name to the list of candidates to stand for the National Assembly.
Daily Maverick has seen the list that Theewaterskloof Municipality Speaker and ANC provincial treasurer Derek Appel leads. Cameron Dugmore who has been the leader of the opposition in the provincial legislature is also among the names suggested for moving to the national parliament.
The list includes Thandi Manikivana, Wendy Plaatjies, Sharon Davids, Major Sokopo, Mathilda Bains, Boy Manqoba and Bheki Hadebe.
Rasool was recalled as premier following the watershed 2007 Polokwane conference where Jacob Zuma was elected to lead the organisation. Allegations surfaced in 2005 that Rasool was colluding with journalists who wrote favourable articles about him — which played a part in his removal.
Rasool, who has represented the ANC in parliament before, served as ambassador to the United States between 2010 and 2015.
Read more about Rasool and the ANC campaigns in previous elections here: Ebrahim Rasool returns as ANC gets serious about reclaiming Western Cape
Ayanda Bans, deputy secretary of the party, leads the 15-member list of province-to-province candidates followed by Rachel Windvogel, Benson Ngqentsu, Khalid Sayed and Pat Lekker.
The ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is expected to make an announcement on its candidate list following deliberations that lasted until the early hours of Friday.
The deadline to submit lists to the IEC is 5pm.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ANC’s Gigaba, Mahlobo, Kodwa, and Frolick recommended for Parliamentary list chop amid NEC objections
Surprisingly, provincial chairperson JJ Tyhalisisu does not appear on either the provincial to national parliament list or the list for provincial legislature representatives.
Dugmore declined to confirm that he and Rasool form part of the list, saying he could not comment on the party lists until the ANC has made them public.
While ranked number four on the provincial list, Sayed is being touted as the party’s premier candidate. Daily Maverick understands that various civil societies that are aligned with the ANC have requested the national leadership to consider Sayed as the face of the Western Cape campaign. In the previous elections in 2019, for ANC leader in the City of Cape Town council, Xolani Sotashe was the premier candidate.
Fading fortunes
Overall, ANC support has been dipping — in the last national elections in the Western Cape in 2019, the ANC garnered just more than 28% of the vote — down from a high of 45.2% in 2004. The majority party, the DA attained 55.45% in the previous national and provincial elections in 2019.
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The party is expected to depend heavily on International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor in its campaign in Cape Town as it explores ways to attract voters. Pandor is popular in the Cape Town Muslim community and her relentless fight for a cease-fire in Gaza has boosted her support in the province that is led by the DA, which is not pro-Palestine.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ANC’s Pandor pledges party support to push pro-Palestine agenda at Lenasia event
Immediate attempts to get comment from Rasool were unsuccessful. DM
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The ANC showing vague signs of trying to be truly multiracial? Times must be hard. 😀
That may be…but wasn’t the ANC truly multiracial to begin with and then lost its mix through its BEE policies, corruption etc. Isn’t it the DA the one that has been ‘trying to be multiracial’ and losing black leaders?
The South African Native National Congress, forerunner of the ANC, was founded as the South African Native National Congress in Bloemfontein on 8 January 1912, and was renamed the African National Congress in 1923.
It began as exclusive for black males.
Women were only admitted in 1943
“Non-Africans” were only admitted — as ordinary members — in 1969
“Non-Africans” were only eligible for the NEC as late as 1985.
The Progressive Party, forerunner of the Democratic Alliance was founded in 1959 as open to all South Africans.
The DA has been non-racist for longer than the ANC!
Thank you for answering better than I would have been able to.
My only thought when seeing comments like the above is that people speak from ignorance, and active blind themselves to overt truths that don’t suit their personal narrative.
No bias here…just joking!
This article appears to be too ANC-friendly!
Dugmore has been just about the only whitey in the ANC for the last ten years.
The writer Velani Ludidi must check his writings and not write unsubstantiated drivel:
The DA is not pro-Palestine or pro-Israel.