To address the ANC’s declining performance in recent elections, some Eastern Cape party regions are calling for an early provincial elective conference.
With the current ANC PEC’s term lapsing in May, the party’s provincial conference is planned for the first half of 2026, possibly close to the municipal elections.
Regional leaders, however, worry that internal divisions within party structures, as is the norm in the build-up and during the conference period, could hurt the ANC’s chances at the polls.
On Sunday, just after being elected, Alfred Nzo’s ANC regional chair and Ntabankulu mayor, Tsileng Sobuthongo, urged the party’s provincial bosses to consider moving the provincial conference to later in 2025, or possibly in the first two months of 2026.
Sobuthongo said this would give the ANC more time to prepare for the elections, with a united and renewed provincial leadership in place.
The Alfred Nzo region, one of the province’s biggest ANC regions, is the third in the province to hold its elective conference in 2025, after several delays.
The OR Tambo and Chris Hani regions had hosted their elective congresses in recent weeks.
The Buffalo City Metro-based Dr WB Rubusana region, Joe Gqabi, Nelson Mandela Bay and Sarah Baartman regions are yet to go to their elective conferences in 2025, while the Amathole region will only host its in 2026.
The Chris Hani region, after its uncontested elective conference in June, also recently called for the provincial conference to be held earlier.
In her victory speech on Sunday, Sobuthongo said to deal with poor performance in the local government elections, the ANC should seriously consider having its provincial conference earlier than scheduled.
“Comrades, in our quest to stop the continued downward spiral of the ANC’s performance at the polls, we must strengthen the organisation and reduce divisions closer to the period of the elections.”
She said if one looked at the history of ANC conferences post-1994, divisions were one of the main causes of the ANC’s overall poor performance.
“If then we apply this reasoning, we are bound to support the view to call for an early provincial conference.
“This will help give ample time to prepare for the local government elections, with a stronger PEC with a renewed mandate,” Sobuthongo said.
On Monday, she confirmed her region held the view that the provincial conference be either moved to December, January or February, “but not beyond that”.
She said they did not want “the politics of the province to crowd our preparations for municipal elections, as that could render us divided and weak as an organisation”.
“As you would know, the term of the current PEC lapses in May next year, while also next year it is local government elections.
“You would also know that conferences, by their design, have elements of dividing the organisation, hence we believe this would be disruptive in our preparations for the next local government elections.”
The Chris Hani region’s ANC secretary, Andile Mini, confirmed on Monday that the region had also adopted a similar view during its June conference.
“In closing our conference, our regional chair [Lusanda Sizani] made the same call, which was a product of the conference discussions.
“It’s based on the fact that in 2026 we should be primarily busy with local government elections.
“So for the ANC to better focus on elections, and not focus on both conference and elections, it is logical that we should go for an early conference, so that we have ample time to focus on municipal elections.
“This is because you do not want to divide your energy. Conference takes away energy from all structures of the ANC, so logic tells us that you cannot run both concurrently,” Mini said.
The OR Tambo region has not deliberated about a possibility of an early conference.
The region’s chair and district mayor, Mesuli Ngqondwana, said: “In our conference we did not make that call and therefore we cannot be supporting or rejecting anything not discussed by the branches of OR Tambo.”
Attempts to get comment from ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi and PEC spokesperson Balungile Sapo were unsuccessful.
The provincial conference is set to pit longtime allies against each other, with Ngcukayitobi and incumbent Oscar Mabuyane, set to battle it out for the provincial chair position.
Daily Dispatch
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