Delegates arrive at Free State ANC conference

Delegates at the Free State ANC elective conference started to arrive at the Phakisa Raceway near Welkom on Saturday for the rerun of the conference.

Groups of delegates sang outside a huge tent erected for the conference, and were allowed inside around 10am.

A provincial task team was appointed by the African National Congress national executive committee (NEC) in December to rerun the conference after the Constitutional Court held that the province's 2012 conference was illegal.

A group of six local ANC members successfully challenged the legality of the previous Free State leadership after the last conference.

The group succeeded in getting the Constitutional Court to declare the provincial executive committee's (PEC) decisions and resolutions unlawful and invalid, because the ANC had not addressed certain irregularities about the conference.

As a result, the PEC was dissolved.

Earlier this week, the provincial task team and NEC members deployed to the province announced that they were ready to rerun the conference.

On Saturday, there were several security checkpoints on the way to the conference tent.

ANC deputy-president Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to deliver the opening address.