The ANC’s Eastern Cape leadership has summoned all branches in the deeply divided Nelson Mandela Bay Metro to a meeting at 5pm today.
It follows the party’s decision over the weekend to shelve the much-awaited elective regional conference until further notice, as internal divisions continue to plague the party across branches in the region.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said they expected 15 representatives from each of the 50 ANC branches in the region.
It is here where the Charles Nqakula-led regional task team (RTT ) is expected to present a report on progress made while facilitating branch general meetings for the nomination process of candidates for this year’s local elections.
“We want take branches on board regarding all the developments in preparation for both the elective regional conference as well as the nomination processes for the local elections,” said Mabuyane.
ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa announced earlier this week that both the provincial executive committee (PEC) and the national executive committee (NEC) have agreed to postpone the conference until after the local government elections.
The Herald quoted Kodwa saying: “I think the PEC discussed that and agreed with us that it’s not imminent. There’s no need . It’s not urgent. We will go to the elections without going to the conference first.”
The troubles in the region date back to 2014, when the region was due to elect new regional leaders, but due to parallel branch structures, the region could not.
The divisions were so deep that in December 2014, the President Jacob Zuma-led national officials decided to dissolve the regional executive committee (REC).
The region has been led by a task team since.
After the RTT took over the running of the region, the PEC set an end of December deadline, but the conference had to be shelved because the RTT found it difficult to meet the 70% threshold.
The Daily Dispatch reported last year that the PEC decided to postpone the conference once again until the end of last month.
The DA had indicated as far back as May 2014 that the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro was its next target after the party successfully took Cape Town and the Western Cape from the ANC.
The DA’s plan has been causing sleepless nights for the ruling party.
This follows the ANC’s loss of a by-election in Uitenhage’s ward 42 last year to an independent candidate.
Another nail in the coffin was when the United Democratic Movement won Dwesi’s ward 30 by-election, snatching control from the ANC last year.
Mabuyane said they were doing all in their power to unite ANC members in the area.
“There are a lot of disputes in the metro and we are still busy dealing with the verification process. We need another couple of months to be able to meet the threshold,” he added.
ANC in bid to tackle squabbles
It follows the party’s decision over the weekend to shelve the much-awaited elective regional conference until further notice, as internal divisions continue to plague the party across branches in the region.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said they expected 15 representatives from each of the 50 ANC branches in the region.
It is here where the Charles Nqakula-led regional task team (RTT ) is expected to present a report on progress made while facilitating branch general meetings for the nomination process of candidates for this year’s local elections.
“We want take branches on board regarding all the developments in preparation for both the elective regional conference as well as the nomination processes for the local elections,” said Mabuyane.
ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa announced earlier this week that both the provincial executive committee (PEC) and the national executive committee (NEC) have agreed to postpone the conference until after the local government elections.
The Herald quoted Kodwa saying: “I think the PEC discussed that and agreed with us that it’s not imminent. There’s no need . It’s not urgent. We will go to the elections without going to the conference first.”
The troubles in the region date back to 2014, when the region was due to elect new regional leaders, but due to parallel branch structures, the region could not.
The divisions were so deep that in December 2014, the President Jacob Zuma-led national officials decided to dissolve the regional executive committee (REC).
The region has been led by a task team since.
After the RTT took over the running of the region, the PEC set an end of December deadline, but the conference had to be shelved because the RTT found it difficult to meet the 70% threshold.
The Daily Dispatch reported last year that the PEC decided to postpone the conference once again until the end of last month.
The DA had indicated as far back as May 2014 that the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro was its next target after the party successfully took Cape Town and the Western Cape from the ANC.
The DA’s plan has been causing sleepless nights for the ruling party.
This follows the ANC’s loss of a by-election in Uitenhage’s ward 42 last year to an independent candidate.
Another nail in the coffin was when the United Democratic Movement won Dwesi’s ward 30 by-election, snatching control from the ANC last year.
Mabuyane said they were doing all in their power to unite ANC members in the area.
“There are a lot of disputes in the metro and we are still busy dealing with the verification process. We need another couple of months to be able to meet the threshold,” he added.
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