Polokwane — The leading American public broadcast journalist, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, blogs for allAfrica live from the floor – literally – of the ANC conference during President Thabo Mbeki's report.

I am sitting on the floor in front of the stage filled with all top members of the ANC's national executive committee, and the two top contenders for the leadership of the party - Jacob Zuma, the frontrunner and Thabo Mbeki.

President Mbeki, who is speaking, was greeted warmly, but not with a lot of enthusiasm from the audience. But the opening session, in general, was the most raucous I have witnessed in the three conferences I have attended.

The main point of contention: the electoral commission's announcement that ballots would be counted both manually and electronically. Several delegates rose to challenge that and brought the conference to a temporary standstill.

It seems to me that this is a clear example of emotions running high over the election and concern over fraud. A priest addressed this head-on in the opening prayer, pleading with the delegates to reject bribery and other forms of political corruption that would reflect poorly on the organization.

It was a tough and surprising message, coming from the quarters it did.

Mbeki is now delivering the ANC political report, which looks as if it might take about two hours. When I remarked to a local journalist on the spirited challenges from the floor, she said: Well, this is democracy in action.

I thought about that and wished I were able to flash back to the early days of democracy in the U.S. Was it any less raucous? If my reading of our history is right, it was worse!