Delegates arrive at ANCYL conference

Thousands of ANC Youth League members were streaming in to Gallagher Estate in Midrand on Thursday morning for the ruling party's crucial youth wing elective conference.

The ANCYL elective conference will start at 10 am and it is expected to be attended by 5500 voting delegates, and 1000 non-voting delegates and guests.

ANCYL outgoing general secretary, Vuyiswa Tulelo, on Thursday morning said the league was ready to start the conference, and that the registration process went smoothly on Wednesday.

ANCYL events are often delayed by the registration process.

Tulelo said a pre-registration process which happened in all nine provinces had helped to speed up the process.

“We did everything yesterday. You can see our delegates are now arriving,” she said.

By 8.30am, delegates were singing outside the hall while scores of journalists were busy setting up their equipment ahead of the start of the event.

There was tight security as all bags carried by people entering the conference hall were being checked by scanners.

ANC president Jacob Zuma is expected to attend the first day. The election of new leaders is set to take place in a closed session on Friday.

It seems that the ANCYL top post is a two-horse race between incumbent Julius Malema and his challenger Lebogang Maile, the Gauteng provincial chairman.

Maile will go to the election as an underdog after he failed to get even a single province to endorse his candidacy.

Malema on the other hand was endorsed by all nine provinces including Maile's province. Maile's only chance to qualify to contest Malema's position would be if he was nominated from the floor. This would require the backing of 30 percent of the 5500 delegates expected at the Gallagher Estate venue.

Another post expected to be highly contested is the general secretary position.

KwaZulu-Natal ANCYL deputy chairman Sindiso Magaqa, and Eastern Cape ANCYL chairman Ayanda Matiti, are vying to replace outgoing incumbent, Vuyiswa Tulelo.

Magaqa is supported by eight of the nine provinces, but Matiti's camp is adamant its preferred candidate will win.