The lead-up to the ANC's policy conference has been characterised by in-fighting and jostling for position among provincial party structures.
By Sunday, it was still unclear what policy positions had been officially adopted by North West, Free State and Eastern Cape ahead of the four-day policy conference which starts on Tuesday in Midrand.
Each province should have decided its policies ahead of the conference, but in-fighting has delayed the processes in some of the provinces.
The national ANC had to step in to resolve tensions at the Free State, North West and Eastern Cape.
Ahead of this week's conference, this is how the provinces lie:
* KWAZULU-NATAL244 900 members 23.8 percent of total ANC membership
KwaZulu-Natal is President Jacob Zuma's home province and strongest support base.
It wants government to reduce privatisation measures and play a bigger role in the economy, in particular in mining, finance, agriculture and land redistribution.
It wants to eliminate conflicts of interest in the judiciary by having judges to declare their interests and financial disclosure.
It does not support the call for the nationalisation of mines as it would be expensive and have massive economic consequences for the country.
It has called for a national economic convention to discuss thorny issues of economic transformation. There was a need for the convention because certain sections of the private sector resisted transformation.
* EASTERN CAPE225 597 members 22 percent of total ANC membership
It has reportedly rejected the second transition draft policy, but it was unclear by Sunday what its official policy position was.
The Eastern Cape ANC denied it wants taxpayers to fund only the first wife of President Jacob Zuma.
This was after The Times, quoting its sister newspaper the Daily Dispatch, said the province wanted this to be discussed at the policy conference.
According to the report, the provincial ANC's economic transformation commission said it supported a proposal that only wife number one, Sizakele Khumalo, be supported by taxpayers and not the other three wives.
But provincial chairman Pumulo Masualle denied this.
“This is a personal attack against the president, not a policy proposal of the ANC in the Eastern Cape,” he said.
* GAUTENG121 223 members 11.8 percent of total ANC membership
The province found the idea of a “second transition” vague and said the “concept is neither persuasive nor theoretically sound”.
This was in response to one of the key national ANC policy documents which suggests that the ANC must now enter a second era of democracy. In the past 18 years the ANC has gone through a first transition into democracy, where it focused on political emancipation. Now it needs to introduce a “second transition” that focuses on the social and economic transformation of South Africa in the next 30 to 50 years.
The Gauteng ANC said: “We are not convinced that the introduction of this thesis helps us to respond strategically, consistently and adequately to the persistent fault-lines of unemployment, poverty and inequality.”
* LIMPOPO114 385 members 11.1 percent of total ANC membership
The Limpopo ANC is in favour of the nationalisation of mines and banks and land expropriation without compensation.
It is not in favour of the second transition draft policy as it does not agree with the separation of political and economic transformation.
“Whilst we do not subscribe to the mechanical separation of political and economic ‘transitions', we however believe the time has come for the progressive South Africans under the leadership of the ANC, to tackle the growing class inequalities rooted in the unequal access to the productive economic resources such land, mines and banks,” it said.
It has disagreed with the national ANC about the suspension of former Youth League head Julius Malema, and called for the reinstatement of youth league leaders.
* MPUMALANGA98 ,892 members 9.6 percent of total ANC membership
According to the Mail & Guardian, Mpumalanga supports the state taking ownership of strategic minerals such as coal, platinum, copper and chrome, and it has resolved that the Constitution and current land reform policies are adequate for land transformation.
* FREE STATE76 334 members 7.4 percent of total ANC membership
The provincial elective conference was postponed three times, missing an end of May deadline, before finally taking place the weekend before the policy conference.
This was despite two of the five provincial regions not having held their regional conferences yet.
Free State ANC chairman Ace Magashule was re-elected unopposed. It had been expected that he would be challenged for the post by former economic development MEC and party treasurer Mxolisi Dukwana. Dukwana was fired from the provincial executive in a provincial cabinet reshuffle in February.
Magashule came out fiercely in support of Zuma at the conference.
The two regional conferences that did take place Ä at Fezile Dabi and Lejweleputswa Ä were held amid claims that structures were being manipulated.
Last month, police were called to the Phakisa racecourse in Welkom after a fight broke out between ANC members. The region was conducting a branch auditing process at the venue ahead of the regional elective conference at the time.
Similar scuffles had broken out at other ANC elective gatherings ahead of the ruling party's provincial elective conference.
Susan Shabangu, the Mineral Resources minister and ANC national executive committee (NEC) member was dispatched to the province to sort out the problems.
By Sunday, the province was still debating its policies ahead of the Midrand conference.
* NORTH WEST60 319 members 5.9 percent of total ANC membership
National ANC officials had to step in after the party in North West removed five provincial executive committee members - chairman Supra Mahumapelo, treasurer Philly Mapolane, deputy provincial secretary Gordon Kegakilwe, spokesman Kenny Morolong and PEC member Matthew Wolmarans.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said their removal was unconstitutional.
Those who were suspended are reportedly in favour of President Jacob Zuma's bid for a second term as president.
Police had to use teargas to separate two ANC groups that clashed in Mahikeng early June before the start of the party's provincial general council.
The regions had complained that factionalism and disunity in the provincial executive committee and its inability to provide political and organisational leadership in the province continued to derail the national executive committee's efforts to stabilise the province.
On policy, The Times reported it rejected the second transition draft policy, saying the document created a notion that “there is a second transition that our struggle is entering as if there was a first transition declared at a given epoch of our struggle”.
“This labelling of our current conjuncture of our history as the second transition further creates an impression that the first transition, as of the advent of democracy in 1994 to date, has resolved issues of inequality, racism, sexism, degradation, poverty, unemployment and landlessness,” the province said in a statement.
By Friday, it was unclear what official policy positions it had adopted ahead of the policy conference.
* WESTERN CAPE43 397 members 4.2 percent of total ANC membership
Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman dismissed the “low-level” debate on the so-called “first and second transitions”. Instead, the party should concentrate on the fact that economic transformation had not taken place and policies should be changed or created to address this.
The province called for stronger state intervention and ownership of strategic sectors to give effect to the ideals of the Freedom Charter.
The Reserve Bank should be owned wholly by the State, as in other countries.
The provincial party called for the development of the fishing and marine industries by re-establishing a “fish bank” to help small to medium fishing enterprises access funding.
On land ownership, the party was of the view that share schemes should be revised as they did not aid true land reform and the willing-buyer, willing-seller approach should be scrapped.
It supported the review and reduction of provinces, arguing this would improve service delivery and regulate economic planning.
* NORTHERN CAPE 42 342 members 4.1 percent of total ANC membership The Northern Cape ANC said it wanted to focus on the mining sector at the upcoming conference.
Provincial head John Block did not come out wholly in support of nationalisation, but has said there are many models on the table that need to be discussed.
The province had committed to the transformation of the ‘apartheid' mining and industrial set up that was reproducing racial underdevelopment and unsustainable patterns of accumulation of wealth.
The Northern Cape ANC wants a university with campuses in different regions of the province to create job opportunities.
Block was re-elected provincial chairman in June for the third time, despite facing charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering. - Sapa