Durban - The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says the party’s new online membership system has been fraught with challenges as the party attempts to hold outstanding regional conferences before the end of March.
The party is expected to hold four regional conferences, with eThekwini, Moses Mabhida, Lower South Coast and General Gizenga (previously KwaDukuza) regions all expected to elect new leadership structures before the end of the first quarter of this year.
The new electronic online system was introduced by the party as it tried to grapple with issues of gatekeeping that had plagued it for many years.
It said that the modern, online membership system had been put in place to speed up the delivery of membership cards and enable the renewal of membership.
However, the new system has not been without its own challenges as the party tries to get to grips with its intricacies as it migrates membership from the old system.
On Thursday, the ANC said it been the system needed to be upgraded before the uploading of membership details into the new system, which is currently under way at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters.
“Whenever you install new systems there are always challenges. You have to conduct workshops for administrators, people who deal with membership rolls because it’s unlike the previous system where we used a membership pack.
“This system first needs to be understood by everybody so that everybody who was in the old membership does appear in the new online membership system,” provincial spokesman Ricardo Mthembu said.
He added: “The only pressure we have is that in places like eThekwini, which is a big region. Not having a leadership structure in there can cause a problem and can disturb the organisation. It’s the same thing in Moses Mabhida and in General Gizenga.”
Mthembu also indicated that the national leadership was busy with the auditing of the memberships, which will then be followed by announcements on when branch general meetings would commence.