Eastern Cape ANC bosses have extended the deadline for its branches in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro to nominate leaders for their elective conference to the end of January.
The party’s provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said provincial executive committee members took the decision to extend the deadline by another month at a meeting in Port Elizabeth last week.
Mabuyane said branches were battling to meet their 70% quorum according to the ANC’s constitution to convene an elective conference.
“The initial deadline for branches to hold branch general meetings and annual general meetings was the end of this month .
“We have since realised that the branches won’t be able to meet the 70% required threshold by the end of this year and that is why the PEC resolved to extend the deadline to the end of January,” said Mabuyane.
The delays may have far reaching implications for the party’s preparations for next year’s local elections which have been provisionally set for May.
The battle for the metro is expected to be highly contested as statistics show that the ANC’s support base in the region, which covers Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, has dropped.
Support for the ANC in the region was also severely impacted by the recall of former president Thabo Mbeki in 2008, which resulted in the formation of the Congress of the People (COPE).
Provincial leaders have admitted publicly that the formation of COPE had a negative affect on membership.
The party narrowly held onto the municipality in the 2011 local elections securing only 51.9% of the vote‚ dropping from 66.5% in 2006.
The numbers dropped even further during last year’s general election, as the party only secured 49.5% support in the area.
There were more problems at branch level, where membership numbers dropped even further due to factional fights and “gatekeeping”.
Gatekeeping is used to describe manipulation of membership to influence the election of branch leaders, either by excluding certain members, or fraudulently bringing in more members.
President Jacob Zuma and his party executive disbanded the ANC regional executive committee late last year and replaced it with a task team due to the factional fights.
The 16-member task team led by former cabinet minister and ambassador, Charles Nqakula, was given six months to sort out the problems.
But the party experienced a further set back in August when the United Democratic Movement (UDM) surprisingly won a by-election in ANC’s historical backyard in Ward 30 – the informal settlement of Veeplaas and parts of Dwesi and Magxaki.
This left the ruling party with a narrow council majority of 62 of the 120 seats.
A month after the loss, ANC bosses decided to beef up the task team in the region with 14 additional members.
Mabuyane said yesterday the party was now targeting the Christmas break for more branches to convene their BGMs.
“This is the best time for branches to hold elective and nominating meetings because everyone is now on holiday.
“We are positive that by the end of January all the branches who qualify to take part in the metro’s elective conference would have held their branch meetings and nominated delegates to the conference.
ANC extends deadline for branches to pick leaders
The party’s provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said provincial executive committee members took the decision to extend the deadline by another month at a meeting in Port Elizabeth last week.
Mabuyane said branches were battling to meet their 70% quorum according to the ANC’s constitution to convene an elective conference.
“The initial deadline for branches to hold branch general meetings and annual general meetings was the end of this month .
“We have since realised that the branches won’t be able to meet the 70% required threshold by the end of this year and that is why the PEC resolved to extend the deadline to the end of January,” said Mabuyane.
The delays may have far reaching implications for the party’s preparations for next year’s local elections which have been provisionally set for May.
The battle for the metro is expected to be highly contested as statistics show that the ANC’s support base in the region, which covers Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, has dropped.
Support for the ANC in the region was also severely impacted by the recall of former president Thabo Mbeki in 2008, which resulted in the formation of the Congress of the People (COPE).
Provincial leaders have admitted publicly that the formation of COPE had a negative affect on membership.
The party narrowly held onto the municipality in the 2011 local elections securing only 51.9% of the vote‚ dropping from 66.5% in 2006.
The numbers dropped even further during last year’s general election, as the party only secured 49.5% support in the area.
There were more problems at branch level, where membership numbers dropped even further due to factional fights and “gatekeeping”.
Gatekeeping is used to describe manipulation of membership to influence the election of branch leaders, either by excluding certain members, or fraudulently bringing in more members.
President Jacob Zuma and his party executive disbanded the ANC regional executive committee late last year and replaced it with a task team due to the factional fights.
The 16-member task team led by former cabinet minister and ambassador, Charles Nqakula, was given six months to sort out the problems.
But the party experienced a further set back in August when the United Democratic Movement (UDM) surprisingly won a by-election in ANC’s historical backyard in Ward 30 – the informal settlement of Veeplaas and parts of Dwesi and Magxaki.
This left the ruling party with a narrow council majority of 62 of the 120 seats.
A month after the loss, ANC bosses decided to beef up the task team in the region with 14 additional members.
Mabuyane said yesterday the party was now targeting the Christmas break for more branches to convene their BGMs.
“This is the best time for branches to hold elective and nominating meetings because everyone is now on holiday.
“We are positive that by the end of January all the branches who qualify to take part in the metro’s elective conference would have held their branch meetings and nominated delegates to the conference.
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