Durban - Some of the ANC regions and provinces failed to meet a deadline to convene branch meetings to nominate President Jacob Zuma’s successor.
Meetings not reaching a quorum and disruptions have been blamed for the failure to meet Sunday's deadline to complete branch general meetings (BGMs) ahead of next month’s elective congress.
Thabo Meeko, the party’s Free State spokesperson, said the province, which is due to hold its provincial and Gariep regional conferences, has extended BGMs to Wednesday.
He said the meetings were disrupted due to differences in interpreting guidelines issued by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.
Meeko said by last Monday 76% of branches in the Free State had sat for BGMs, and he was hopeful the process would be completed.
The ANC Free State is expected to support ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
Last week, Mantashe announced that the ANC national executive committee had extended the deadline for BGMs to this past weekend.
He said by last Monday 70% of the branches had completed their BGMs.
ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Super Zuma was hopeful that the party would complete its BGMs by Sunday.
He said the meetings were sitting on a daily basis. “We are hoping to have a full delegation at the conference,” Zuma said.
KZN, the ANC’s largest province in terms of membership, is backing Dlamini Zuma to replace President Jacob Zuma.
ANC Mpumalanga spokesperson Sasekani Manzini said the party was very confident that the province would complete its BGMs by yesterday.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said BGMs sat yesterday, and was also confident that all outstanding meetings would complete the process.
Next month’s national elective conference is expected to have 5240 voting delegates, 90% of whom will be elected at properly quorate BGMs.
Only audited members are allowed to vote in the nominations process or to be elected as delegates to conference.
The party says this is to ensure that no one tampers with the quorum of BGMs and the allocated branch delegation.