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The ANC will finalise its list of mayoral candidates this week as the party races to settle a selection process ahead of local government elections on November 4.The party’s extended national executive committee (NEC) is expected to confirm the names before a formal announcement, according to a senior ANC official who is part of the process to select candidates. Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is expected to make the announcement with candidates required to have campaign manifestos ready in time for launch events across the country’s metros.For Johannesburg, the country’s commercial capital and the ANC’s most closely watched contest, Rev Frank Chikane has emerged as the front-runner. With less than 100 days remaining before voters go to the polls, the party is under pressure to present a unified slate. An NEC member close to the process told Business Day that Chikane is viewed internally as a stabilising figure who could help contain a factional rivalry between incumbent mayor Dada Morero and deputy mayor Loyiso Masuku, with the latter two now expected to compete for the deputy mayor position should Chikane be confirmed.Chikane also chairs the ANC’s integrity commission and served as director-general in the presidency under Thabo Mbeki. He was interviewed for the position alongside Morero and Masuku, both of whom remain in contention.The process has been unusually public and long. The ANC’s Johannesburg regional structures initially backed Masuku as their first choice. Business Day, however, understands that Chikane has been chosen as the most appropriate candidate to rival the DA’s Helen Zille, whose campaign began months before and has gained significant ground. Read: Analysts warn Joburg service delivery crisis threatens SA’s economyJohannesburg’s balance sheet has become a central issue in the contest. The auditor-general found that the metro lost nearly R4bn worth of electricity in the 2024/25 financial year, more than a fifth of all power it purchases, largely to theft and billing errors. Close to a quarter of the city’s water supply is lost annually to leaks and burst pipes, at a cost of more than R2bn over the same period.The selection marks a departure from ANC practice. The party has traditionally kept its mayoral choices confidential until after municipal elections, allowing councillors to negotiate the position afterwards. This year, facing the risk of losing control of Johannesburg and other major metros to coalitions led by the DA and ActionSA, the ANC opted to name its candidates publicly and build campaigns around them.The Johannesburg race will be a direct contest with the DA’s Zille, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba and the PA’s Kenny Kunene, who now serves as the city’s MMC for transport. Rise Mzansi has named Lukhona Mnguni as its candidate, while Bosa has chosen Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster.The ANC has governed Johannesburg for most of the past three decades but has shed support in the city since 2016 and cycled through a series of mayors amid unstable coalition arrangements.The same process is playing out in the ANC’s other two Gauteng metros. In Tshwane, current mayoral committee members Tlangi Mogale and Aaron Maluleke are the likely candidates. In Ekurhuleni, the contest has narrowed to two rivals from within the same regional leadership structure. ANC regional chair Nkosindiphile Xhakaza and regional secretary Jongizizwe Dlabathi are the frontrunners.
