There will be NO big celebration of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, which will be attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa of this organization.
The ANC KwaZulu-Natal event to celebrate the day the organization was founded has been cancelled. The announcement was made by the ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson, Mr. Fanle Sibisi, who said they canceled the event because they wanted to focus on preparations for the upcoming local government elections.
The ceremony was supposed to take place at the beginning of the month but it was postponed because Ramaphosa was going to the funeral of an American pastor, Jesse Jackson.
The event is scheduled to take place this weekend in Durban. Sibisi said they decided to cancel the event because they want to focus on preparing for the election.
“Because the Independent Electoral Commission has announced that there will be registration to vote on June 20 to 21, we have decided to use this time to organize ourselves in the branches, so that they can persuade people to register for the election.”
The ANC is expected to start next month’s meetings to nominate candidates for the local government elections.
The Secretary General of the ANC, Mr. Fikile Mbalula, has issued an order that all leadership selection conferences be held this month, and preparations for local government elections will begin next month.
In KwaZulu-Natal there should have been a conference to elect provincial and regional leadership. This means that if these conferences are missed this month, they will be held after the elections.
Meanwhile: Mbalula announced that the ANC leadership conference in the Eastern Cape, which will be held at the weekend, will continue.
There are members of the ANC who have filed a request for the conference to be stopped in court, complaining about the non-compliance of the rules, but Mbalula said the conference will continue in the dark.
“The fact that there are complaints does not mean that the conference will not continue. These people who are just talking are upset that they have lost and that is why they are running to the court. Only a tsunami can stop this conference. We oppose this application filed in court. The conference will continue as planned.”
He said: “We are used to this. When there are conferences, there are always people who run to the courts. The ANC has internal structures where people can submit their complaints. There are people who want positions. We do not oppose that, but after all, people should follow the rules. People should not be frightened by the competition for positions. This is normal.”
Mbalula said the National ANC Chairman, Mr. Gwede Mantashe, will deliver the opening speech of the conference. The race to lead the ANC in the Eastern Cape is between the Chairman, Mr. Oscar Mabuyane and the Secretary, Mr. Lulama Ngcukayitobi. Those who support Ngcukayitobi are said to want the conference to be suspended.