DURBAN - The long-awaited ANC conference in eThekwini is expected to be held before Christmas said party regional co-ordinator Bheki Ntuli on Wednesday.
He said the party had set the date for the conference to sit for three days, starting from December 20 at a yet to be determined venue.
Ntuli said the dates were provisional depending on whether the region reached 70% threshold of branches as a requirement for the conference to lawfully convene.
Ntuli, whose position is equivalent to the secretary, the position he held before the region was disbanded, said he was hopeful that by this weekend all the remaining 62 branches would successfully hold their branch meetings and nominate their preferred candidates for regional positions.
He said that before being interrupted by Covid-19 and local government elections, 49 out of 111 branches had already successfully held their meetings. He further said that the region just needed 29 more branches on top of the 49 to meet the threshold of 70% in order to proceed with the conference.
Soon after the local government elections, the province issued a directive to all 11 regions in the province whose term had lapsed to start preparing for the conferences.
ANC provincial spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said that all 11 ANC regions had their terms expired so they would all hold conferences to elect new leadership, with the exception of Emalahleni (Newcastle) and Far North (uMkhanyakude) which elected its new leaders before local government elections.
Former Newcastle mayor Ntuthuko Mahlaba and Simphile Mdaka were elected as chairpersons respectively for their regions. This brings the total of remaining regions to nine.
In its circular, the province directed that all regions must have sat and elected new leadership by the end of January or the first week of February. The main focus was expected to be on eThekwini, which is hotly being contested by former mayor Zandile Gumede and a newly elected eThekwini Speaker Thabani Nyawose who both want the powerful chairperson position.
Before government elections, both camps were claiming to lead with a number of branches that had nominated their candidates. Gumede’s supporters leader, councillor Ntando Khuzwayo, said their camp was still behind her and had no doubt that she would easily retain her position. He said that her deployment to the legislature would not hamper her chances to lead the region, as some people were suggesting. Attempts to reach Nyawose’s lobbyist were unsuccessful.
DAILY NEWS