Unresolved branch meeting disputes might lead to yet another postponement of the much anticipated ANC regional elective conference in Buffalo City Metro.
The party's conference organising committee has recommended another delay to the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC).
The Dr WB Rubusana regional conference, after numerous postponements since May, was meant to sit from Friday to Sunday to elect new party leadership ahead of the watershed 2026 local government elections.
Though there was no official confirmation of the postponement by print deadline on Wednesday evening, word in political corridors was that the planned three-day fifth regional conference had been shelved for later in September.
The postponement was mentioned in a Facebook account supporting one of the top candidates for regional executive committee seats, Mbasa Satyi. The team is called “MS25”.
The statement reads: “MS25 campaign team notes this last minute change with disappointment, given the extensive preparations made by branches and delegates.”
A cagey PEC spokesperson Balungile Sapo, on Wednesday confirmed there were recommendations for the postponement, but said the final decision was still to be made by the provincial ANC.
“Based on the report tabled on Tuesday’s meeting between the provincial officials and regional officials, there were recommendations made, which still needs to be processed internally.
“So anything regarding the recommendations made about the Rubusana conference, are not yet processed by relevant structures.
“The organisation shall give the comprehensive update once the decision is taken by the highest decision making body in the province,” Sapo said.
Asked whether the conference was sitting this weekend or not, Sapo repeated that, “recommendations made about the Rubusana conference, are still yet to be processed by relevant structures”.
However, the leader of the PEC deployees in the region, Siyabulela Zangqa, on Wednesday confirmed that the conference organising committee, which consists of party members from the PEC, regional task team RTT), and the national executive committee (NEC) deployees in the province, had indeed recommended that the weekend conference be postponed, once again.
Zangqa said his committee recommended that the new conference date be set for September 19-21, with a final decision on such, pending the green light being given by the party’s provincial leadership.
“Yes, we have made such recommendation in a report we presented to the provincial leadership on Tuesday.
“This is after we had received a directive from the office of the secretary-general [Fikile Mbalula] that no regional conference must sit while there are still branch general meeting disputes sitting with the provincial dispute resolution committee (PDRC), the national disputes resolution committee (NDRC) and the national appeals committee.
“As the team organising the conference, and after considering the work done, we cannot say everything is cleared in the region for conference to sit.
“We still have some outstanding disputes to be addressed by the PDRC and the NDRC,” Zangqa said.
He said the RTT would soon sit for its meeting, then the PEC, before a final decision was taken.
“Our recommendations might be rejected, but in principle, material conditions and the work done so far does not allow us to host a conference this coming weekend,” Zangqa said.
However, he said he was satisfied by the progress made in preparation of the region’s conference.
“Reports presented by RTT officials, logistics, accommodation for delegates and pre-registration boxes had been ticked already, with the only outstanding matters holding us off from holding conference this weekend being those disputes and appeals before the PRDC, the NDRC and the appeals committee.”
While the region’s RTT co-ordinator, Antonio Carels, on Wednesday confirmed plans to postpone the conference, he refused to be drawn into further commenting, instead referring further queries to Zangqa.
Daily Dispatch
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