By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider

Secretary-General of the ANC, Fikile Mbalula, has continued to insist that he will not be resigning voluntarily after there have been calls for him to leave his post because of the ANC’s failure to submit all its councillor candidates to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.

Mbalula told the media on Tuesday that the party did in fact submit all its councillor list to the IEC but had not been captured due to technical difficulties, however it did catch 97% of the list with only 3% remaining uncaptured. 

The provinces that are affected by this mishap are Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. Many have called for Mbalula to be dealt with through a “special” National Executive Committee (NEC).

 It is firmly believed that Mbalula is responsible for the party’s failure to submit their list while others have remained in the fact that he needs to resign from his post. 

“If I did something wrong, I will be the first to admit it. If the ANC says steps must be taken because I’m wrong, that will be the decision of the ANC. It’s not my decision. I’m not defending myself,” Mbalula said.

 “It is strange that even before you get the report, even from the [ANC electoral committee chair Kgalema Motlanthe] that you call for someone’s head. It is no longer objective. It shows your true colours, and you go around lobbying people in the NEC.” he said further. 

He stated that if he had submitted the list without consultation, some of those criticising him would have called for more: “I would be dead; that’s when the question of resignation would hold.” 

He also stated that even though his office had done good work, he would be hounded purely because of the absence of the lists. Mbalula also highlighted that people within the party had used the issue of the absent lists as a way of sabotage. 

“This will be the reflection of our leadership, that during our term we did not do well” said Mbalula.