Political parties woo rival members

Cloak-and-dagger intrigue as ANC targets five DA councillors

SECRET meetings, whispers in corridors and private phone calls. It is all part of the behindthe-scenes wheeling and dealing taking place in Nelson Mandela Bay as political parties try to woo rival party members to cross over ahead of the August 3 election.

According to insiders, the ANC is courting members of the DA and COPE, the UDM is after ANC, DA and COPE members, and the DA is trying to lure ANC members to its side.

About five disgruntled DA councillors are believed to be holding secret talks with the ANC following tensions in the opposition ranks, particularly among those unlikely to be re-elected to the council.

Northern areas councillors who did not top the DA’s candidate lists include Penny Naidoo, Nico du Plessis, Isaac Adams, Brian Kivedo, Jan Lindoor, Kenneth Kohl and Anne du Plessis.

Two former DA councillors, Knight Mali and Mzukisi Ncamani, have already joined the ANC and have made no secret of their plans to persuade others to follow suit.

Five ANC and DA insiders said four DA northern areas councillors and one from Port Elizabeth’s western suburbs had held secret meetings with mayor Danny Jordaan several times.

Jordaan did not respond to requests for comment.

The meetings are said to have taken place at City Hall, a guesthouse in Bluewater Bay and at the private residence of a prominent city businessman.

A well-placed insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the group had even had a meeting with ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte in the week leading up to the party’s manifesto launch last month.

“Once the election date is proclaimed, everything will come out,” the insider said.

Once the date is gazetted, they may be fired from their parties but cannot, by law, be removed as councillors until the election.

“What’s happening now is that the ANC wants those from the northern areas to help it campaign and bring more support to the ANC,” the insider said.

“The idea is that those four from the northern areas will be accommodated high on the ANC’s PR list.

“Any others will be placed in the administration of the municipality.”

Asked how they would be slotted onto the PR list when it had already been decided upon by the ANC branches, the insider said: “Once the list is finalised, the ANC top six [national bosses] will put in the new names and there’s nothing anyone in the region or province can say.”

Another insider said nothing was final yet and the five were waiting for something in writing before they officially joined the ANC.

ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the national leadership was not aware of any discussions between the ANC and DA councillors.

However, the party could place people in council positions, but it all depended on the circumstances, he said.

“People must come from the branches, [but] the ANC is not a rigid organisation,” Kodwa said.

Asked if the ANC top six could slot in names on the councillor candidates lists, he said: “No, those are things done at local leadership level.”

An ANC councillor said the party had already shown in the past that it could place people from opposing parties into lucrative positions – like it did when Smuts Ngonyama jumped from COPE to being South Africa’s ambassador to Spain.

“It all depends on the people and what they will bring to the ANC,” the councillor said.

“None of the DA councillors have made demands about what they want, but a space will be created for them, or they will be put in the administration.

“They are loved in the communities and, to be honest, the ANC really needs the votes in the northern areas.”

But another ANC councillor said he could not see the branches agreeing to the DA councillors being accommodated without their stamp of approval.

“I don’t see this going down well with the branches because it means people will be parachuted into positions.”

The ANC is also believed to be eyeing COPE councillor and regional chairman Khwezi Ntshanyana to join the party.

His former right-hand man, Rano Kayser, has crossed over to the DA.

Ntshanyana said he had been approached many times by different political parties since 2012.

“Naturally, it becomes more intense as the election draws near,” he said.

“The ANC, DA and UDM have been talking to me – although it was never formal, only informal engagements – and I have not made any commitment to leave COPE.”

DA Bay caucus leader Retief Odendaal said the party had a competent team to lead the party to the election and was not scouting for any new people.

He said they had head-hunted Kayser for his specific skills and were happy with their team at this stage.

UDM mayoral candidate Mongameli Bobani said his party was in talks with a number of disgruntled councillors from the DA, ANC and COPE.

He did not want to identify any of them.