Durban — The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said it was confident that its branches would reach the 70% threshold by next week in order for the provincial elective conference to go ahead.
With just over seven days left until Thursday next week, the deadline, only 50% of branches have been able to meet and nominate their preferred candidates and there are fears the party may fail to get enough branches for the conference to sit next month.
Provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli has allayed fears of a postponement, saying he was adamant that when the deadline comes next week branches would have made the 70% cut to reach the threshold.
He was speaking at the party’s media briefing on Tuesday which was called to update the public on the progress the regions had made in preparation for the conference. Out of 831 branches that are in good standing in the province Ntuli said half of them had already met and nominated.
“We have no reason to worry about the postponement of our conference. We are adamant that it will take place on the weekend of 15 to 17 July. Our branches are also engaging on the discussion document which was released by the national office for engagement,” said Ntuli.
He also stressed that people should not be confused by the names of leaders who were purportedly nominated by social media users, saying those were not nominations but preferences of people. He added that up to now the party leadership did not know which leaders were nominated and would only know after Thursday next week, the deadline given to branches to finalise their nominations.
Ntuli also said a branch with a 100 minimum members would be represented by two delegates but to get another delegate the branch would need an extra 300 members, saying for the control of the number of the delegates the maximum number of delegates per branch would be six.
He also said the party has considered the issue of water rationing in eThekwini which began on Monday, as well as electricity load shedding, saying the owners of the conference venue would have to take into consideration all these logistics when charging for the venue.
The conference, which will take place in Durban, would possibly see three candidates or more vying for the position of provincial chairperson, which has never been seen for years in the party. The current chairperson, Sihle Zikalala, who is seeking a second term, is expected to be fiercely challenged by the current provincial treasurer Nomusa Dube-Ncube and businessman Sandile Zungu.
The three appeared to have garnered enough nominations to be able to stand for the position. Other names that are being bandied about were former provincial government director-general Nhlanhla Ngidi and former Newcastle mayor Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba.
Daily News