South Africa: African National Chaos

16 December 2022

Chaos reigned on Day One of the ANC's elective conference in Nasrec Johannesburg with over 800 delegates remaining unaccredited.

Over 200 delegates were still not registered by 4pm bringing the conference to a standstill.

Angry delegates at the registration centre at the Unisa conference centre in Ormonde forced their way into the centre out of frustration.

The conference was scheduled to kick start at 8:30 with President Cyril Ramaphosa's Organisational Report.

Some of the delegates stuck at the gate were from Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and North West.

Delegates told Scrolla.Africa that they had been waiting for their accreditations since 5am while others said they slept at the centre on Thursday night.

ANC spokesperson, Pule Mabe, said they were battling to verify some of the delegates.

"These delegates will be placed in the category of non-voting and will not be allowed to participate," he added.

This suggestion made matters worse as it had the potential to significantly reduce the number of voting delegates and expose the conference to litigation.

Mabe said eight people motivated to contest the all important 86-member national executive committee did not qualify to participate in the conference because they had not paid membership fees.

Nkululeko Nkosi, a frustrated delegate from Mpumalanga, said they will not allow the conference to start until all the voting delegates get processed.

"We are hungry, thirsty and tired but we will fight until we all receive accreditation to be part of the conference.

"We have been given the mandate to represent our regions and province, we have to be part of it," he added.

 

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