Administrative issues such as verification and the status of party membership might result in the ANC regional conference in Johannesburg being delayed.
ANC Johannesburg spokesperson Masilo Serekele told Sowetan branches were still busy with their general meetings and the election of branch executives.
Serekele said they had not reached the 70% threshold required to proceed with the regional conference by the end of the month. Branches are expected to reach the threshold by Friday, so that it allows the process of further verification to continue and clear any disputes.
“The delay is caused by the collapse of our bi-annual branch general meetings (BBGM), mainly because of administrative issues, like membership. We migrated to the new system which creates a lot of discrepancies in terms of the membership [verification], and some branches are still dealing with queries and stuff that needs to be resolved,” he said
The delay is caused by the collapse of our bi-annual branch general meetings (BBGM), mainly because of administrative issues, like membership.
— ANC Johannesburg spokesperson Masilo Serekele
The BBGM is tasked with electing a new branch executive committee, which will then form the committee to represent them at the conference, where branches will elect regional leadership.
Serekele said by Tuesday afternoon 58% of branches had sat and resolved everything that was required of them. He said they were now looking at mid-September for the conference instead of the last weekend of August. However, he said the delay has minimal impact.
One insider told Sowetan, although it is at an early stage, Loyiso Masuku, the new MMC for finance, has put up her hand to challenge for the regional chairperson position. “We are still at the [branch] nomination stages and there are people who have started to raise their hand and are available to lead at the regional office.
“We have two candidates contesting for regional chairperson, which are Masuku and the mayor [Dada Morero]. The other people who’ve raised their hands, are Matshediso Mfikwe, for the deputy chairperson position, for deputy secretary is Nomoya Mnisi, and Maxwell Nedzama for the treasury,” he said.
About a week ago, Sowetan sister publication TimesLIVE reported that provincial leadership had to intervene to ensure Morero appoints Masuku as the MMC for finance.
In the meeting with provincial co-conveners, Amos Masondo and Panyaza Lesufi, provincial coordinator, Hope Papo, and Tasneem Motara, among others, Morero's hand was forced into settling for Masuku.
Serekele declined to respond to the question whether some ANC members have shown interest to contest for leadership positions in the ANC region “Currently branch’s are still nominating [their branch executives].We don’t have consolidated stats [on who wants to lead and] anything for now [till then] it is speculations, and we cannot speak on it from an official point,” he said.
“It is safe to say that we will wait for [the] conference, for now it's speculations because we can suggest a name [now] and at conference that person declines or does not meet the minimum threshold.”
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