Johannesburg - Factionalism is the biggest problem facing the African National Congress, the party in the Eastern Cape said on Tuesday.
“It affects our work as the organisation as we continue to find ways to address it,” the provincial ANC said in a statement.
“It also had an impact in the process of local government election, hence the formation of parallel structure at a branch level.”
Before last year's May 18 local government elections, the ANC announced a new process allowing communities to select their candidates.
There were several protests around the country when popular candidates were removed from the candidate lists.
A task team, headed by current African Union commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was appointed to investigate complaints in 419 wards across the country.
Dlamini-Zuma's team handed its report to the ANC national executive committee during its meeting at the weekend.
The ANC in the Eastern Cape called for disciplinary measures against councillors who used their positions to influence processes.
The province said it was progressing well for its preparations ahead of the party's national elective conference next month.
“We had a slight challenge in terms of the slow pace of the branch general meetings (BGM) but we have since put in place reinforcements where necessary, in order to ensure that we take our full delegation of 676 branch delegates to... Mangaung.”
About 83 percent of the province's branches had held their meetings; the remaining 17 percent had until November 27 to do so.
The ANC in the Eastern Cape would hold its provincial nomination conference on November 29 and 30 at the Fort Hare University's Alice campus.
“The packaged outcomes of this conference will constitute the mandate of the Eastern Cape delegates to the national conference,” it said. - Sapa