The first day of the African National Congress’s (ANC) Polokwane conference ended abruptly just after 9.30pm on Sunday, without dealing with nominations for the party leadership.
ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota told delegates to come back at 8.30am on Monday, explaining there were ”a few details” the national executive committee wanted to tie up before then.
According to the programme, the party’s electoral commission was to have called for nominations for the so-called top six officials, which include the party president, in a session starting at 9.30pm on Sunday.
However, the conference was running several hours late by then and still had to deal with issues including delegates’ credentials and constitutional amendments.
Sitting ANC president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma, are the only two nominees for the top post so far, although delegates can in theory make other nominations from the floor.
The ANC has yet to decide whether votes for its new leadership will be counted manually or electronically. It was reported earlier that votes would be counted manually, but the commission said a firm decision had not yet been made.
ANC electoral commission chairperson Bertha Gxowa drew a chorus of boos when she announced at the start of the conference that votes would be counted electronically, with manual counting only where there were disputes.
The ANC Youth League objected, raising fears of vote rigging. A manual count would be more transparent, it argued. Gxowa then proposed that the votes for the top six positions be counted manually and double-checked electronically, with the rest electronically counted. This was also not accepted.
Gxowa warned delegates that a manual count of all the votes would take a long time.
She has warned delegates that cameras and cellphones will not be allowed in the voting area — this after reports that delegates had been promised payment for their votes on provision of a photograph of the cross on their ballot paper.
Singing and campaigning were also banned in the area where delegates would cast their ballots. — Sapa