adminProceedings had been delayed late Sunday as party members became embroiled in a legal dispute over the status of delegates from two provinces including the host region, the Free State.
Some 4,500 ANC delegates are gathered in the central city of Bloemfontein for the five-yearly meeting to nominate candidates to fill the party’s top six positions.
“We ran late yesterday, we could not proceed with the credentials. We’ll still vote for the top six later today,” said ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu.
Ahead of the meeting, South Africa’s constitutional court ruled that procedural irregularities in selecting leaders meant Free State delegates should not vote for the next party leader.
That presented ANC leaders with a tough choice: exclude the hosts, or let them take part — risking a latter court ruling that could nullify the results of the whole leadership conference.
According to local media, the ANC decided in favour of the latter in a closed-door session.
When the names of the candidates are announced, President Jacob Zuma is expected to face a leadership challenge from his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe.
On Sunday at the opening of the conference Zuma made the case for getting another term, which would virtually ensure that he retains the presidency after 2014 elections.
Zuma wooed delegates with a robust defence of his much-criticised term in office, a pledge of change and his trademark charm.
Calling for unity Zuma said the successful anti-apartheid movement was ready to “move into the second phase” which would focus on bringing “meaningful socio-economic freedom”.
“We worked together to bring about freedom, justice and human rights during the struggle for liberation and currently as we fight poverty, inequality and unemployment,” he said.
Acknowledging that the road to prosperity will be “long and hard”, Zuma insisted however that “the ANC remains the only hope for the poor and marginalised.”
South Africa has faced a slew of credit ratings downgrades as unemployment remained stubbornly high around 25 percent and growth slowed to the slowest rate in three years.
The vital mining sector meanwhile has been hit by waves of violent unrest including the killing of 34 miners by police in August.
Addressing investors, Zuma said he wanted to “dismiss the perceptions that our country is falling apart”.
He eschewed talk of privatising the mining sector, and backed a centrist plan to improve the economy over two decades.
Deputy President Motlanthe is hoping to wrest control of the party from Zuma, who has been president of the Africa’s economic powerhouse since 2009. — AFP.
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