Why are so many of the ANC’s councillors in Cape Town black, party asks

The ANC in the Western Cape has criticised the leadership of its Cape Town region for failing to choose racially diverse councillors in the city.

Provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said that of the city’s 55 ANC councillors‚ only six were not black and there was not a single white person.

"We are concerned that our councillors don’t represent the broad constituency and democracy of Cape Town‚" Jacobs said on Monday.

"It is a challenge we must improve if we want to win support … we must ensure that we have a nonracial character." Cape Town’s population is roughly 45% coloured‚ 43% white and 9% black.

Jacobs was speaking after he told a media briefing that the party’s provincial leadership had decided to dissolve the leadership structure of the Dullah Omar region‚ which geographically conforms to the City of Cape Town.

He said the party needed to ensure that there was co-operation among communities‚ and diversity was vital‚ not only in terms of race but also in terms of gender and religion.

The region’s disbandment follows divisions sparked when the Dullah Omar leadership failed to successfully install their preferred candidate‚ Songezo Mjongile‚ as provincial secretary two years ago.

The divisions erupted in public on Sunday when a group of provincial executive committee members held a media conference criticising the decision by the ANC provincial leadership to dissolve the Dullah Omar region.

Jacobs said dissolution followed the party’s poor showing in last August’s local government elections‚ which he described as "perhaps the worst in the history of the ANC in the province".

He added: "As election results showed‚ the region lost ground to the DA and even the EFF." The DA won 154 seats last August and the EFF won seven.

During the election campaign‚ it had been clear the regional executive committee did not accept the authority of the provincial leadership, Jacobs said.