Johannesburg - The ANC's Top six will not be participating in the build-up programmes ahead of the launch of the Mandela Centenary celebrations due to "urgent meetings", it emerged on Friday.
Instead, the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) members would be the ones participating in Friday and Saturday's planned activities.
Initially, only ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe were confirmed to no longer be taking part due to other other engagements.
Ramaphosa's cancellation was due to "other pressing commitments" while Mantashe had been "deployed to the Mpumalanga province".
On Friday however, ANC Western Cape Provincial Secretary Faiez Jacobs confirmed to eNCA that the rest of the Top six would also no longer be taking part in activities.
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He was unable to elaborate on the reasons for the sudden cancellations.
He however, confirmed that Ramaphosa would still be addressing Sunday's events, as originally planned.
"We're ready for Comrade Cyril, we're mobilising all our branches and anticipating thousands of people. We're very excited to receive our leadership," he said.
The ANC earlier this week, announced the launch the celebrations of the centennial year in honour of late statesman Nelson Mandela on Sunday, February 11, 2018 at the Grand Parade in Cape Town.
These would be preceded by numerous activities by the Top 6 on Friday and Saturday.