The ANC in Mpumalanga has made it clear that its provincial conference will go ahead despite conflict in some of its branches.

Yet another ANC branch general meeting (BGM) in Ward 24, Driekoppies, recently descended into chaos, leaving three people in hospital, one reportedly in critical condition.

A similar incident happened last year in Jeppes Reef, Nkomazi, on April 11, also during a BGM. Five people were attacked and had to be hospitalised after sustaining serious injuries.

The party’s acting secretary, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, said they were aware of this latest incident and vowed that drastic measures would be taken in due course.

“We can confirm that there was an incident reported from the branch, which was sitting on Sunday. We have received a report from the leadership from the ward that two groupings had come and locked the gates of the venue where the meeting was to be held.

“Those who locked the gates preventing members to attend the formal sitting were not even members of Ward 24, but from the neighbouring Ward 26. They were not supposed to be there in the first place.

“After police intervention, the gates were opened and the meeting proceeded. But while the meeting was in session, bottles and stones were thrown into the venue at the members, and it was during this time that gunshots were heard,” said Ntshalintshali. She vowed that they would deal with those who disrupted these BGMs. She requested that the police must also do their job and start making arrests while the ANC is busy with its own investigation into the matter.

“This is not the first incident in Nkomazi and surprisingly not even a single arrest has been made. In Mbombela at Coyotes, there was a shooting incident and immediately there were arrests, but not in Nkomazi. How does the law operate?”

Ntshalintshali questioned. Regarding to the conference, she said, “We have adopted the roadmap that by the end of February the provincial conference should sit.

But all that will be supported and is possible if we have our own preliminary report. We were sitting at about 50% of BGMs, and I think we are now getting closer or have reached the 70% threshold.

This conference is going ahead. We want to take ourselves to the conference, and we are not clinging onto power as a narrative that some members suggest.” She also lashed out at other groupings within the party that are calling for the dissolution of the provincial executive committee (PEC). “They must not call for the dissolution of the PEC just because they want to be part of it. If they want to be part of it, they must go to their branches and get elected.”