The ANC launched criminal proceedings against a group that broke into the registration desk at the Olympia Park Stadium in Rustenberg and took accreditation tags, which were later cloned by people who wanted to attend the conference illegally.
This was confirmed by the party’s organizational chief, Nomvula Makanyane, during a media briefing on Sunday evening.
Some members of the crowd, Makonian said, were rowdy, drunk and ill-disciplined. They abused the security personnel and the party administration and eventually overpowered them.
“Thankfully there is video footage and we hope that as an organization we can exercise discipline beyond criminal charges against these individuals,” she said.
The tags that were taken and later cloned were intended to be distributed after the voting delegates were rearranged. This happened after the Provisional Provincial Committee (PRC) and the Provisional Regional Committee were stripped of their voting rights legal action initiated by an aggrieved member who claimed that the structure of the IPC was unconstitutional as its term had expired three years ago.
Abed Bapela, the provincial head of the NEC, said the party would investigate where the cloned accreditation was printed as it appears the party’s conferences have been affected by such incidents.
“This is an issue that needs to be addressed,” he said.
However, Makanyane suggested that the party’s systems were watertight as they could detect duplicate accreditation tags. It is not yet clear how many people were involved.
Clouded by delays
The conference was marred by delays, including lawsuits, unresolved disputes, registration violations and the demand for gender parity in the number of voting delegates attending the conference.
Deputy President David Mabuza opened the conference on Saturday evening. President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to close the conference on Sunday, but was advised not to do so. “He really wanted to speak at the conference,” Bapello said.
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Voting for the top five started on Sunday evening. The organizing committee of the conference proposed to complete the voting on the top five, and to postpone the election of members of the regional executive committee and the adoption of reports to the end of August.
“It has to happen by August 25, 26 and 27 because the NEC [National Executive Committee] decided in July that the North West, Free State and Western Cape should be concluded by the end of August.’
However, delegates fought back by proposing a vote for all members on Sunday night. Bapela said the final decision rests with the majority of delegates.
Financing
It is not clear how the ANC will finance the next conference, and Bapela admitted that hosting the conference was an expensive exercise.
On Sunday night, Prime Minister Bushi Maape and former ANC MP Nono Maloyi battled it out for the post of provincial chairperson, which had previously been contested by seven candidates, five of whom did not make the final cut.
More details in Daily Maverick: “Supra Mahumapelo is “quitting” the North West ANC chairmanship race and is aiming to take over the NEC post»
There was a failed attempt to remove Malloy from the race on the grounds that he was facing a culpable homicide case that had been pending since 2018, but was later temporarily withdrawn by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Support for Malaya seems to have consolidated. From the very beginning of the conference, delegates publicly declared their support, some chanting: “We Nono sekusele kanane uzophumelela”, loosely translated: “It’s only a matter of time, Nono, you will emerge victorious”. DM
