Progress, or lack thereof, and the flouting of rules in the nomination of ANC leaders for Mangaung, are expected to come under scrutiny when the ruling party holds its national executive committee (NEC) meeting this weekend.
Discussions are likely to focus on violence in several provinces and logistics regarding branch nominations. Three special task teams dealing with complaints of intimidation, violence and flouting of procedures have already visited several provinces.
Incidents included the shooting of an ANC member in Tau in the North West. ANC branch meetings were also disrupted in Limpopo and criminal cases were opened.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the police were called in when tensions flared after it emerged ex-national police commissioner Bheki Cele, who remains hugely popular in that province, and 84 others had been left off the audited branch membership list, according to City Press. However, the incident was isolated.
In Ekurhuleni in Gauteng several branch meetings were disrupted and while some ANC insiders have expressed concern over levels of intimidation, provincial party spokesman Dumisa Ntuli said complaints were being resolved.
The Free State will on Thursday be the first province to hold its nominations conference, where branch nominations will be formally adopted. Provincial secretary William Bulwane said the nominations process had gone without hitches, unlike the violence-marred run-up to the provincial conference in June.
KwaZulu-Natal follows with a two-day meeting next weekend, while Mpumalanga holds its conference next Saturday.
The Northern Cape, which has wrapped up nominations, holds its provincial nominations conference over two days on November 25-26.
No date has yet been set in Gauteng and the North West ANC will set a date only after its provincial executive meeting next week.
The Western Cape nominations conference was initially scheduled for next Sunday, but could be moved as 28 of 141 branches have been disqualified, according to one insider.
Limpopo holds its nominations conference on November 28 and the Eastern Cape, where the issue of ghost members, first discovered by the national ANC membership audit, is rearing its head again. Their meeting is scheduled for the last minute, November 30.
The Eastern Cape delegation to Mangaung is the second-largest, with 676 delegates, while KwaZulu-Natal is in top spot with 974. They are followed by Limpopo with 574, Gauteng (500), Mpumalanga (467), the Free State (324), North West (234), the Western Cape (178) and the Northern Cape (176).
Pretoria News Weekend