ANC nominations 'in the clear'

2007-11-28 23:18

Johannesburg - The African National Congress's electoral commission says it is satisfied the nomination process for the national executive committee was democratic and inclusive.

It said all the nominations had been completed without any serious complaints or disputes.

The commission would approach all nominees to ask if they would be available to appear on the ballots at the ANC's national conference.

The commission said on Wednesday the names of the candidates would be released in a week.

The commission said: "A final list of candidates will be released in about one week to allow all our delegates and structures to carefully consider the choices available to them."

The commission said no behaviour which contradicted the ANC code of conduct or which undermined legitimate democratic processes would be tolerated.

"Should any members of the ANC have allegations of intimidation or any form of coercion, we urge them to supply the commission with evidence in the form of sworn statements."

The commission would investigate any reports of intimidation and, if necessary, refer the matter to the relevant ANC disciplinary committee.

Nominations for all posts

On Tuesday, ANC spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso said the commission was validating the provincial nominations of candidates.

Rikhotso said each province and the ANC's youth and women's leagues had nominated their choice for not only president, deputy president, national chairperson, secretary-general, deputy secretary-general and treasurer, but also for their choice for the 60 additional NEC members.

Rikhotso said he was sure that once the party had been notified of the outcome of the provincial voting, it would make the findings public.

Rikhotso said delegates at the national conference in Limpopo in December would be allowed "once more" to nominate members for the NEC from the floor.

Nominees needed to be supported by 25% of voting delegates.

He said a ballot paper would then be drawn up with the nominations from the provinces and from the floor.

- SAPA