ANC Women’s League conference postponed again due to unresolved branch disputes

The long-awaited ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) conference has hit another hurdle.

The national task team on Tuesday said it needed another week to deal with disputes and registration problems, just three days before the conference was scheduled to start.

Task team leader and former National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete said the decision was taken at midnight at a meeting with ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.

“It was around midnight when we were sitting collectively in that meeting that we came to the conclusion that we need an extra week.

“We looked at the report the coordinator gave us, and we took a collective decision that another week should be adequate to enable us to finish up everything,” Mbete told journalists at a briefing held at ANC headquarters Luthuli House on Tuesday.

Disputes and appeals

The conference was scheduled for Friday to Sunday to elect new leaders.

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The league last held an elective conference in 2015, where Bathabile Dlamini was elected president.

She is seeking re-election and will face off with Deputy Minister of Women and Youth, Nokuzola “Sisisi” Tolashe.

The conference had been postponed numerous times before, and it seems the ANCWL is hamstrung by disputes at branches.

According to Mbete, some members lodged disputes directly to Luthuli House, even though there are committees in all provinces to tackle them.

“The integrity of the process is that you must pay attention and do a thorough job. Sometimes the dispute could be fabricated and you must be alive to that.

“The national dispute resolution committee had sat for two weeks receiving and paying attention to appeals emanating from provinces, whereas we have provincial dispute resolution committees.”

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The day’s briefing on conference readiness was initially set to take place at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, but was changed to the ANC offices.

‘KZN, Eastern Cape problems’

ANCWL coordinator Maropene Ramokgopa said most delegates in the Western Cape, Limpopo, Free State and Gauteng have been pre-registered for conference.

Pre-registration started on Friday until Monday.

The provinces experiencing problems include KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, she said.

“As we know, most ANC conferences struggle when it comes to registrations. We as the ANCWL decided to set new a standard that registration takes up only a day.

“We have put efforts in pre-registrations, which also look at problems raised by branches, regions and provinces, including disputes and appeals brought to our attention.”

She added that the league has over 2 900 branches nationwide, with at least 2 700 of them having successfully held branch general meetings.

“You need 70% of branches to go to conference, and we have surpassed that,” Ramokgopa said.

The new date for the ANCWL conference is between the 21st and 23rd of this month.

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