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An ANC flag
The African National Congress (ANC) in Mangaung says it is awaiting a decision from its national and provincial executive committees on when it can reconvene its regional conference.
The conference was nullified due to voting irregularities.
Convener of the ANC regional task team, Lawrence Mathae, says, “four votes did not have any material bearing on the contestants. Even if you had to give those four to either one of them, they still did not carry any weight that could tilt the competition between the two, so that information was not told to delegates”.
Political analyst Sethulego Matebesi has warned that the situation could have broader implications for the party in the province.
Matebesi says, “It seems as if the ANC is not only in the Free State because this is a long-standing challenge within the party and where there’s an issue of gatekeeping, leaders who are currently serving in key positions perhaps want to protect at all costs that they are not taken out. But also, it’s a challenge that I believe that the ANC should have tackled by now. It is not good for the African National Congress; it has huge reputational implications for the ANC in the Free State. Because the question is, if you cannot manage your own things within the party, how is the ANC going to demonstrate to South Africans and the Free State citizens that it is indeed the leader of society by having this chaotic situation within the party.”
The party is expected to await further guidance before proceeding with a new conference date.
