Businesses in the Mpumalanga mining town of eMalahleni are over the moon as the ANC provincial conference scheduled to take place this weekend has given them a boost.
Eyethu Guest House owner Sindisile Shongwe told Sowetan on Thursday that she was happy her place was fully booked for the entire weekend.
“Since lockdown, we have even laid off some workers but this weekend, I have called back some of my former employees who hadn't found jobs as it is going to be busy.
“We are happy that the ANC decided to bring it's conference here. This is what we call the economic recovery. I'm over the moon and being fully booked is a blessing,” said Shongwe.
Themba Ngwenya, a manager at News Cafe outlet, said they were expecting a lot of people.
“Since the start of the week, we have seen numbers swelling. This weekend we expect more people to grace our business. We have had calls from members of the ANC citing that they are going to spend their time here.
“That is met with gratitude because everyone knows that during lockdown we had to close, losing profit, and that affected us badly. We expect to even have additional part-time workers helping for this weekend,” Ngwenya said.
The long-awaited conference is expected to be opened by ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile while President Cyril Ramaphosa will close the conference on Sunday.
The province has not had an elective conference since 2015, when David Mabuza was re-elected provincial chairperson.
He is currently deputy president of the ruling party.
It is also the first time in 15 years that the Nkangala region is hosting such a conference.
Coordinator of the provincial task team (PTT) premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane and Lucky Ndinisa are supposed to contest for the position of chairperson.
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