Mbalula: I won't resign unless the ANC tells me to

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says he will not step down voluntarily following internal backlash over missed candidate submission deadlines with the Electoral Commission. ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula has insisted that he will not resign voluntarily after his detractors called for his head because of the party's failure to submit all its councillor candidates to the Electoral Commission of South Africa. In a media briefing on Tuesday, Mbalula told journalists that the party had submitted its councillor list but the IEC had captured only 3% because of technical glitches. Mbalula's detractors in the party have called for a special national executive committee to deal with him. They believe he is to be blamed for the party's failure to submit their lists. Others have demanded he resign. "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 … 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 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. ' Mbalula said that being a secretary-general meant that 'when things are nice' he was praised but the converse was also true — everyone blamed him when things went wrong. Mbalula said some in the party were using the list issues as a campaign tool. They were the same people who projected the ANC as inefficient, unorganised and chaotic. They were working hard to register victory for the ANC but others were looking at it 'in political goggles' and wondering what if the party failed. "This will be a reflection of our leadership — that during our term we did not do well,' Mbalula said, cautioning against laxity.