Two ANC Free State regional conferences hang in the balance

The much-anticipated African National Congress (ANC) Mangaung and Lejweleputswa regional conferences in the Free State scheduled to take place this weekend appear to be hanging by a thread.

This after the ANC Interim Provincial Committee held a meeting at the party’s provincial offices at the Kaizer Sebothela house in Bloemfontein. The party’s leadership is in discussions to resolve some of the disputes in the two regions. The meeting was attended by some of the ANC NEC members.

Disgruntled ANC members met at the ANC provincial office to map out the road to the conferences. The party members of the two regions will however have to wait until Friday to know if they can proceed with their conferences.

The five hour long marathon meeting could not come up with a final decision. Outstanding disputes will be discussed on Friday when a final decision about the issues will be taken. The ANC in the Mangaung metro has nevertheless expressed optimism about its conference.

“We are ready we have prepared ourselves for any eventuality whether its litigation we have prepared ourselves for that. We have readily with us documentation that can prove everything went well. Otherwise nationally would not have referred back to the dispute because nationally when it gets the disputes it is empowered to adjudicate on those disputes. And it looked at nature of the disputes and the nature of disputes is that they do not meet the criteria of the dispute resolution mechanism,” says Mangaung interim regional committee chairperson Lawrence Mathae.

For now, it remains to be seen if the two regional conferences will continue as planned without being interdicted by disgruntled members.