Security has been tightened at Nasrec in Johannesburg as the 54th ANC’s National Conference gets under way.

Police have been deployed to roads leading to the conference venue and around the conference venue itself.

Some of the delegates will not attend after courts ruled that some branches were found to have contravened the party’s constitution during their branch general meetings.

The affected provinces include the Free State and the North West.

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Committee members can only attend as branch delegates.

“One of the fearlessly contested conferences as two candidates for Presidency Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma both hope to win the position of the President, but the court rulings will have an impact on support base of the two candidates in three provinces, Free State, North West and KwaZulu- Natal. Yesterday the outgoing President Jacob Zuma was hopeful that the conference will go well. Zuma is expected to give his last speech this morning and it’s expected that he will emphasise on unity.”