Train to ANC congress gathers steam

The choice of who will be in charge of the ANC has been left in the hands of 5,240 people‚ the governing party has confirmed.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the party’s national executive committee (NEC) — which sat on Saturday until Monday — agreed on the revised number of delegates.

The 54th congress starts on December 16.

Initially, the party had said there would be 4,731 delegates but this figure did not include the current NEC leaders‚ three leagues of the ANC, and an allocation for provincial leaders.

Mantashe said so far the party’s processes of holding branch general meetings towards the conference was close to 70% complete.

Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape are leading the pack — almost concluding their pre-conference processes — with Kwa Zulu-Natal lagging behind.

Mantashe said the ANC would not extend the deadline for branch meetings, set for Wednesday ‚ but added that there may be a grace period until the end of the weekend.

Once branch meetings are held‚ ANC provinces and leagues — youth, women, and veterans — would finalise their nomination of candidates to meet the threshold to be on the ballot paper.

The secretary-general said they were working hard to complete all branch meetings and resolve disputes, adding they may adopt a special dispensation to allow for KwaZulu-Natal branches to complete its processes.

He also confirmed that the ANC Women’s League was the first top structure to formally nominate its preferred candidates.

On Monday, it endorsed Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as its candidate for president with Mpumalanga ANC chairman David Mabuza as her deputy. It also nominated Ace Magashule to be secretary-general‚ ministers Nathi Mthethwa as chairman and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane as treasurer - general.