KwaZulu-Natal is once again set to dominate when the ANC’s 55th national conference is held next month, fielding the highest number of delegates.

ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe confirmed KZN could send at least 700 delegates to the conference at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec from 16 to 20 December.

Mabe said the province with the next biggest contingent of delegates would send about 650 delegates and a third largest would be 630. He would not divulge which they were.

Political analyst Professor Dirk Kotzé said if a candidate was popular in three of the four provinces – KZN, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Gauteng – he would win.

Mkhize not supported in three provinces

But he doubted presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize‘s support in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Gauteng, where party president Cyril Ramaphosa was a popular choice.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Lindiwe Sisulu are the other presidential candidates.

Mabe said the party’s national executive committee would hold a special meeting on 18 November at Nasrec to consolidate the process.

First meeting since Covid-19 pandemic

The gathering would be the first physical meeting since before the Covid pandemic.

The ANC would require all its candidates to make full disclosure about the source of their campaign funding.

They would have to keep the financial records of their income and expenditure and submit reports to the party’s electoral committee, headed by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, for scrutiny.

Mabe said the measures were aimed at preventing vote-buying.

Those who failed to comply with the requirement would face disciplinary action, based on a charge of serious misconduct, which could result in expulsion from the party.

Minimise vote-buying

“The intention is to minimise, isolate, avoid and effectively deal with vote-buying in the ANC.

“We want to protect the right of ANC members to elect who they want, without being involved in other agendas.

“This is meant to strengthen the internal democracy in the ANC.

“The intention is noble. [It] is not to criminalise the ANC cadres,” Mabe said.

No negative campaigning

No candidate would be allowed to run a negative campaign against another and each would be required to condemn negative behaviour or statements made by his or her supporters in the process of campaigning.

Candidates who qualified for nominations would be those who obtained the most votes from the branches.

Provincial general councils would no longer be used as platforms to consolidate provincial views or positions.

“The nomination is by branches, whose views must prevail in the nomination process,” Mabe said.

“You must enjoy the highest popular vote from the branches for you to be nominated.”

For each of the top six positions, Luthuli House would consolidate and select the top three candidates, whose names would be put on the ballot paper for the conference.

Mabe said there was likely to be a few disputes around delegations or representations from the branches because the party had introduced a more efficient digitalised membership system that was fool proof.

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