Much against anticipation that voting for the new ANC’s top seven officials would have started by 9am and concluded by 3pm and votes out around 5pm, the process has been severely delayed.
It is now likely that the voting will get under way around 7pm and run until midnight and results released in the early hours of Monday.
Outgoing ANC national spokesperson, and treasurer-general candidate, Pule Mabe, told the media on Sunday afternoon that what was happening in the plenary was that various organisations in alliance with the ANC both in SA and abroad were delivering their messages of support.
CONCLUSION: The first press conference for the day by the outgoing ANC national spokesperson, Pule Mabe, is now done. What is now clear is that voting for the new top seven is still hours away and results are likely to be known around midnight.
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) December 18, 2022
After that, their legion of delegates will discuss various reports to be tabled and adopt them if they are satisfied.
Thereafter the elections committee will outline to delegates how the voting for the top seven will take place and break for lunch.
Each province will be given time to vote to determine which slate, between the one led by Dr Zweli Mkhize and Cyril Ramaphosa, wins.
After the announcement of the results of the top seven, the elections committee will then open the floor for nominations for additional members (NEC) so that on Monday they vote.
He added that they had to cover much ground as possible because they had lost valuable time since Friday.
“As of now (around 2pm) what is happening around plenary is that messages of support are being conveyed, these are 17 messages of support.
“Fraternal organisations here in the country and in the diaspora and former liberation movements that we have shared trenches with, that had been invited…
“After all these messages of support are delivered we will discuss reports that had been tabled.
“At the conclusion and adoption of these reports, the elections committee, together with the elections commissions would come and outline how elections will unfold.
“Delegates will then break for lunch, when they come back they will move to different commissions.
“They are expected to vote per province while they are in commissions, continuing with deliberations.
“So, we are hoping that this process would be smooth, it would go as planned,” Mabe said.
Asked whether their vote counting would be manual or electronic, Mabe said the counting of ballots would be manual.
He added that their leagues and provinces would deploy their observers to ensure that there was no cheating and the process was credible.
On the allegations that both factions had been using money to buy votes from delegates, Mabe said they didn’t have enough evidence to investigate and prove that and asked for more information.
He added that these allegations brought a credibility crisis for the ANC and the people who eventually got elected.
“Unfortunately, these delegates who are alleged to have been bought or received some form of inducement to vote either way, only use the media or journalists to report and they don’t make the organisation aware.
“We are then not empowered to make the necessary investigations,” he said.
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