The ANC has dispatched its top guns to oversee the party’s two-day hybrid national conference, which will see hundreds of KwaZulu-Natal delegates converge in Durban.

The ANC national conference, which started last month in Johannesburg, will continue today and close on Friday.

However, unlike the first leg of the national conference in Johannesburg, which saw President Cyril Ramaphosa re-elected party leader for a second term, the two-day conference will be virtual.

According to the ANC national leadership, the party’s KwaZulu-Natal conference delegates will participate in the gathering from a central point at Durban’s ICC Exhibition Centre.

While ANC national conferences are usually held over five days, party leaders had to extend the December conference by two days after delays in the delegates’ registration process saw the party unable to conclude its work within the five days.

ANC policies, including the party’s contentious step-aside policy compelling members facing criminal charges to step down from their positions within the ANC and the government, will be the main focus of the two-day conference.

Senior ANC leaders who will oversee conference proceedings in Durban include former KZN premier Senzo Mchunu, former health minister Zweli Mkhize, former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini, former ANC KZN provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala and former provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli.

According to ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula, the two-day conference would also deliberate on the representation of members of minority groups within the party’s leadership structures.

Given the lack of representation of members of minority groups within ANC leadership structures, Mbalula says the conference could resolve to co-opt members of minority groups into the organisation’s NEC.

“The collective of the national executive committee will apply its mind and make recommendations. If we have to co-opt, we will co-opt. We are not an Africanist party; we are black in general and African in particular.”

Last year, there was an outcry after delegates at the KZN elective conference failed to elect non-blacks into the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC).

There are currently fears that the ANC could lose the support of members of the minority groups should the party fail to ensure that they were represented across its leadership structures.

The ANC, Mbalula says, cannot afford to be seen as an ‘African-only party’.

The ANC’s two-day conference will culminate in the party’s 111th birthday rally, which will be held in Mangaung, Bloemfontein, on Sunday.

Ramaphosa, who defeated Mkhize during last month’s ANC leadership race, will deliver the main speech at the party’s birthday bash, scheduled to be held at the Petrus Molemela Stadium.