By Thapelo Molefe
ANC Eastern Cape chairperson Oscar Mabuyane says the province is ready to proceed with its 10th provincial conference this weekend, despite ongoing disputes and legal challenges threatening to disrupt the gathering.
Mabuyane said the provincial executive committee (PEC) had processed and approved the political, organisational and financial reports, which will be tabled at the conference.
This comes after a faction of disgruntled members turned to the courts in a bid to interdict the conference.
The party’s provincial secretary, Lulama Ngcukaitobi, raised concerns in a scathing letter, citing irregularities including the unlawful issuing of QR codes for branch general meetings and alleged manipulation of the membership system.
He also questioned the inconsistent application of the step-aside rule and accused ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula of failing to address these issues.
The PEC, meeting on Tuesday, adopted key reports and confirmed that the conference will go ahead as planned from 26 to 29 March at the East London International Convention Centre.
The meeting was attended by Mbalula, NEC convener of deployees Mamoloko Kubayi, provincial treasurer Zolile Williams and other provincial leaders.
“We are more than ready for our conference,” Mabuyane told reporters.
“Our conference is going ahead as planned.”
Mbalula acknowledged that some members had taken the party to court in an attempt to interdict the conference, but dismissed the cases as “frivolous”.
“This thing that because of disputes, conference won’t sit is wrong. In the ANC there are checks and balances. As the SG of the ANC, I don’t deal with disputes. That’s the purview of the national dispute resolution committee,” said Mbalula.
“We are ready to prove our case. Everything else that has been presented to us is not factual.”
He insisted that all disputes had been processed through internal structures, including provincial and national dispute resolution committees.
“These processes have been tried and tested,” Mbalula said, adding that disputes should be resolved within party channels rather than through the courts.
He also addressed concerns raised in Ngcukaitobi’s letter, saying the issues should have been handled within the PEC rather than escalated publicly.
“ANC doesn’t convene conferences for the sake of it. It’s about policy consolidation and advancement. The upcoming Eastern Cape provincial conference plays a pivotal role in strengthening the movement. We believe the ANC in the Eastern Cape has come a long way and has at all times received overwhelming support from the masses of our people, and that must be respected. We are going to be intolerant to ill-discipline.”
Mbalula said the PEC meeting was successful and that all key reports were adopted.
“I’m joined by all officials. The provincial secretary sat the entire meeting and indicated he had to go to a doctor’s appointment — we’re saying this so that people don’t make up their own interpretations about his absence,” he said.
“He presented the report of the conference, which was adopted, along with the provincial treasurer’s report. The chair presented his political overview, which was also adopted.”
Mbalula said all disputes were being handled by the national dispute resolution committee and that the party would respond to legal challenges.
“We are ready to prove our case. Everything presented to us is not factual. We are confident in the processes of the ANC that we have followed. These are tried and tested processes. We have conflict resolution mechanisms from province to national, and all issues raised go through these committees,” said Mbalula.
He added that issues raised in Ngcukaitobi’s letter overlapped with those in court papers and should have been dealt with internally.
Mabuyane echoed this sentiment, saying most disputes had been addressed within party structures, even though some members had opted for litigation.
“We are dealing with those kinds of issues. We want to have a properly organised and properly convened conference,” he said.
Kubayi, on the other hand, said national deployees had been closely monitoring preparations and intervening where necessary, including working directly with branches and provincial structures.
She said weekly meetings had been held with the PEC and that national organising teams had been deployed to assist with membership verification and branch general meetings.
“In terms of disputes that relate to the provincial conference, we only had 17 by last week, and those have largely been processed,” Kubayi said.
She added that the provincial dispute resolution committee had finalised its work, while the national committee was handling remaining matters.
“Despite that, they are being dealt with through ANC processes,” she said, stressing that there was no need to bypass internal mechanisms.
Kubayi also confirmed that logistics were fully in place.
“In terms of logistics, we are at 100%. Everything is in place — in fact far better than many conferences we have run,” she said.
The PEC issued a strong warning against any attempts to disrupt the conference, saying it would not tolerate “ill-disciplined and sponsored anarchy”.
The committee called on members to respect internal democratic processes and resolve grievances through established structures.
The conference, to be opened by ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe on Friday, is expected to elect new provincial leadership and set the tone for the party’s campaign ahead of upcoming elections.
Aside from the Eastern Cape, Limpopo is also expected to hold its provincial conference this weekend, while Gauteng is set to convene in May.
North West has not yet confirmed a date.
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