By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) Mpumalanga elective conference that was planned for this weekend has been postponed to a later date due to disputes.
The provincial conference has been postponed several times after factional battles turned violent.
This is another of several delays that have plagued the provincial ANC over the last four years. The party has effectively been without leadership since 2015.
The last time Mpumalanga elected new leaders was in 2015, when the now deputy president David Mabuza became chairperson.
Instability and violence have plagued branch general meetings (BGMs) leading up to the elective conference. The BGMs had to nominate candidates for the provincial conference.
According to the party’s constitution, 70 per cent of branches have to complete their meetings for the elective conference to take place.
President Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as the ANC leader, was in Mpumalanga on Monday to deal with the factional spats among the branches. Some party members have approached the courts to interdict the provincial conference, citing branch and regional disputes that were never resolved.
According to provincial task team coordinator Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, the 11th to 13th March planned conference date fell away after some branches protested.
“The national organising committee gave the branches the go-ahead to go back and do the re-runs, some are sitting today [Monday] up to Thursday, so it was going to be impossible to go to conference the next day. So we must allow these branches to finish and have an audit outcome,” she said.
Provinces are preparing to hold conferences ahead of the December national elective congress where Ramaphosa would seek re-election for a second term.
Accompanied by head of ANC presidency Sibongile Besani and national executive committee (NEC) member Gwen Ramokgopa, Ramaphosa held meetings with the members behind closed doors.
Meanwhile the convener of the ANC Mpumalanga provincial task team (PTT) Mandla Ndlovu has thrown the province’s support behind Ramaphosa for a second term as leader of the governing party.
Ndlovu says even though it’s still in the early days for lobbying for the December 55th national elective conference of the ANC, but Mpumalanga is behind Ramaphosa.