The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) decided to halt all regional conferences which were due to take place in Gauteng this weekend.
The announcement was made by party secretary general Ace Magashule on the sidelines of the special NEC meeting being held in Irene, Tshwane, on Monday.
“Gauteng is ready with conferences. There were some people who marched here from the West Rand, we have taken their grievances [into account] and we have decided to postpone all regional conferences in Gauteng that were supposed to take place this weekend,” said Magashule.
Earlier on Monday, hundreds of ANC members from the West Rand region demonstrated outside St George’s Hotel, where the party’s leadership is meeting, calling for all disputes to be resolved before their region is allowed to hold a conference.
The regional conferences were due to be held ahead of the Gauteng elective conference in two weeks’ time. Current acting chair David Makhura is widely expected to be elected unopposed for the position of chair while three people are contesting to be his deputy.
ANC head of organising and campaigns Senzo Mchunu and ANC elections general manager Febe Potgieter-Gqubule met with the disgruntled members and promised that Magashule would write to them before the day’s end.
Party served with court papers
“The court ruled that we must try resolve our matters politically and internally, that’s the route we are taking,” said Magashule.
The ANC is meeting over the state of its provincial structures, some of which are embroiled in court cases against the party. These include the Eastern Cape, where members are challenging the NEC’s decision not to implement the recommendations of the Sbu Ndebele report but instead opt for a political solution; and KwaZulu-Natal, which had to abandon its provincial congress last week after members successfully obtained an interdict against it.
On Friday, disgruntled ANC members in the Free State served legal papers on the party ahead of a court challenge over last month’s elective conference.
The NEC is also expected to decide on a premier for the North West to replace Supra Mahumapelo who was forced to resign following a strong push from within the party and by members of the alliance to oust him.
Former president Jacob Zuma, who is permitted to attend any party meetings in his capacity as a former leader, is also attending the meeting. Reports suggested that Zuma had helped scupper a unity slate for KwaZulu-Natal ahead of the province’s elective conference that was interdicted. It was later turned into a consultative conference that was abandoned as clear divisions played out.
Magashule said discussion on the troubled North West and the Free State had not started, adding that leaders in KwaZulu-Natal were working on uniting the party.
“The leadership is ready to ensure that they come together and unite,” he told journalists.
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