Ballot papers in a Pretoria backyard spark fresh ANC conference fallout

Ballot papers in a Pretoria backyard spark fresh ANC conference fallout

Just when the African National Congress appeared keen to move past its bruising Johannesburg regional conference, a quiet Pretoria suburb has dragged the party back into controversy.

Alleged ballot papers and result slips linked to the ANC’s Greater Johannesburg Regional Conference were discovered at a private home this week, reigniting claims that the tightly contested gathering was anything but clean. The conference, which ended with the defeat of Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero and the election of Loyiso Masuku as regional chair, has been under a cloud since the results were announced. This discovery has only darkened it.

What was found and where

Police and officials from the ANC secretary-general’s office descended on the Pretoria property on 25 January after the materials were uncovered. According to SABC News, the documents were found stuffed into black plastic bags and left in a vegetable garden behind the house hardly the secure storage one would expect for sensitive election material.

Among the items reportedly recovered were ballot papers bearing ANC branding and result slips for “regional additional members”, documents that form a crucial part of the internal voting process.

ANC officials who arrived on the scene did not hide their disbelief. Speaking to SABC journalist Samkelo Maseko, they stressed that the party’s election agencies are bound by contracts that clearly define how and where ballots must be stored. A private backyard, they said bluntly, is not on that list.

Why the location matters

The property is believed to belong to the owner of EMCA, the elections agency appointed to run the controversial conference. That link has added fuel to long-simmering suspicions about the integrity of the vote.

For many ANC members especially in Gauteng, where factional battles often play out in public the optics are terrible. Internal elections are supposed to be the party’s democratic backbone. Finding ballots outside official custody raises uncomfortable questions, even before any investigation is concluded.

Morero’s warning letter

Days before the discovery became public, Dada Morero had already escalated his concerns. In a formal letter dated 21 January to ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, the Johannesburg mayor laid out a detailed complaint about how the elections agency was appointed and how it conducted the conference.

Morero did not mince his words. He argued that the credibility of the agency had been “severely compromised” and suggested that the process appeared to have been driven toward a predetermined outcome.

He also raised potential conflicts of interest, noting that the owner of the elections agency was employed by the City of Johannesburg. According to the letter, her recruitment took place between 2019 and 2021 and was overseen by a specific member of the mayoral committee, in whose office she works as a media specialist.

Morero further questioned whether the agency had properly disclosed any relationships with candidates before being appointed a standard expectation in internal party processes.

“The severity of the alleged transgressions by the election agency necessitates clarification,” Morero wrote, warning that the situation threatened the integrity of the ANC’s internal democracy.

A party divided again

The discovery sits awkwardly alongside earlier assurances from Mbalula, who previously said there was “no crisis” in the Johannesburg region and no investigation under way. That position now appears increasingly difficult to defend.

On the ground in Pretoria, officials have been tight-lipped. Police officers declined to comment, while ANC representatives from Luthuli House said they could not speak until internal processes had run their course.

The regional secretary has maintained that the conference was conducted “fair and square”, a claim echoed by the elections agency itself. But within ANC structures and across social media scepticism is growing. Online, party supporters and critics alike have questioned how sensitive voting material ended up in a private garden, with some calling for the conference results to be reviewed or set aside.

Why this matters beyond one conference

Internal ANC battles may feel routine to South Africans weary of factional drama, but this episode carries wider implications. Johannesburg is the country’s economic heart, and instability within the ruling party’s regional leadership often spills into governance.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said he is awaiting a detailed report on the discovery. His response will be closely watched, particularly as the ANC continues to grapple with credibility issues ahead of future internal contests and national elections.

For now, the image lingers: ballot papers, allegedly linked to one of the ANC’s most powerful regions, abandoned in plastic bags behind a private home. Whether this turns out to be administrative chaos or something more serious, it has reopened a debate the party was hoping had already closed and reminded South Africans just how fragile internal trust within the ANC has become.