Chaos erupted at the UDM provincial elective conference in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, at the weekend when delegates traded punches and hit each other with chairs.
UDM provincial deputy chairman Zolisa Lavisa was leading the meeting when the commotion broke out.
He pleaded for calm, saying: ''Please stop this, don't embarrass the organisation" but his pleas were ignored.
Lavisa said the violence was "indeed embarrassing" and started "after some delegates became impatient during the registration process".
"This is the first time we've seen something like this in the history of UDM and [I] hope . the last," he said.
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