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The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is scheduled to hold its long-awaited three-day provincial elective conference at the University of Zululand from Friday.
The conference is a resitting of the controversial 8th elective conference held in November 2015‚ which was declared null and void by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg after its outcome was disputed by so-called “ANC rebels”.
Potential provincial leader Sihle Zikalala said that out of the more than 800 branches that convened, only 686 branches would participate in the conference.
“There are branches that didn’t pass the audit and will not partake in the provincial conference at the weekend,” he said.
Disgruntled ANC members who claimed to represent 44 branches out of 88 in the troubled Moses Mabhida region threatened to go to court on Tuesday to seek an interdict to prevent the conference from going ahead.
The group said they were concerned about the current state of affairs in the region as well as the province and argued for the conference not to go ahead.
ANC activist Msizi Ngcobo said their main grievances concerned membership gate-keeping, political killings and internal conflict between ANC members.
Speaking on Radio 702 on Friday, political analyst Sinethemba Zonke said that there seemed to be a sense of unity among candidates ahead of the elective conference.
“Sihle Zikalala is going into this conference uncontested and he will be standing in as leader. With key people who want to stop the conference, there are obviously still a lot of grievances among many people in KZN.
“I don’t believe this court action will stop the conference but it does really put pressure on the ANC in solving the issues in KZN where it has become volatile and violent,” Zonke said.
