According to the programme, the African National Congress Youth League congress was supposed to start at 9 am. But by 11am, delegates had not taken their seats. Some delegates were still entering the venue, a process that takes time as delegates have to be properly checked for security reasons.
The first day of the four-day congress was expected to finish at noon to allow delegates to attend the Youth Day event at Orlando Stadium in Soweto later on Thursday.
Delegates kept themselves busy by singing.
Songs calling for Julius Malema to be elected for a second term as president dominated the start of the congress on Thursday morning.
As delegates streamed in to the venue, they sang songs calling for Malema to retain his position. Some songs were old African National Congress songs with their lyrics altered to indicate their support for Malema.
"Sifuna Ujuju manje" (we want Malema now), "uMalema ungowethu" (Malema is our leader), were some of the songs sung by the majority of delegates. Juju is Malema's nickname.
Delegates also sung the controversial "dubula ibhunu" song whose existence hangs in the balance after Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum took Malema to court saying the song constituted hate speech.
At the congress Malema is being challenged by 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. 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.
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.
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