With the revised cut-off date for ANC branch nominations ending on Monday, the next headache for the ruling party is to resolve disputes that emanated from several branches across the country.
Most disputes are as a result of branches that have been disqualified and thus cannot participate in the much-anticipated elective conference in December.
Mdu Manana, chairperson of the ANC dispute resolution committee, told Sunday World that the committee has received fewer disputes compared to when regional and provincial conferences were convened, adding that the process of resolving the grievances will be seamless.
“We have received less than 80 disputes countrywide that are currently being processed by provinces. As the committee and working together with provinces, we are tracking the number of disputes received with an endeavour to resolve them within the shortest time possible,” said Manana.
All our provincial dispute resolution committees are reporting to us on a weekly basis on all the disputes that they have recorded and those that they have resolved.”
Manana added that out of the 10 appeals the committee has received so far, six had been resolved.
“The national dispute resolution committee, which is the final body of appeal and where disputants can appeal rulings of provincial dispute resolution committees, has only received less than 10 appeals. We do expect more disputes emanating from branch meetings that were sitting in the past weekend.”
On the holding of provincial general councils, Manana said they will await the branch nomination process to be concluded, which will culminate into a process where nominations get consolidated by the electoral commission and the elections agency.
“It is only then that a determination can be made on when provincial general councils can sit. We are also confident now, with the number of branches that have sat over the past week and having resolved the challenges that branches were encountering during branch meetings, that we have way surpassed the 70% threshold required to sit the 55th national conference of the ANC,” he added.
Party president Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to battle it out with among others former health minister Zweli Mkhize, deputy president David Mabuza, Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Another position that will be hotly contested is that of party secretary, as well as the deputy president position.
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