THE ANC KZN elective conference continued to be held at ransom by regional secretaries and lobbyists who had locked delegates in last-minute caucusing.
The conference had been scheduled to start at 10am on Friday, 22 July but by 3pm, the Olive Convention Centre was relatively empty. Instead, delegates were spotted in hotels where intense lobbying was taking place.
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Daily Sun has learnt that even though chairmanship contender and finance MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube had shunned politics of slates, his lobbyists were in last-minute talks with Sandile Zungu for the position of secretary.
This followed the powerful eThekwini region reportedly announcing that it had thrown its weight behind Siboniso Duma for chairman and Bheki Mtolo for provincial secretary.
This caucus meeting, although not officially confirmed, suggested that there might be talks underway between the two camps.
Zungu was also spotted in the same hotel where Dube-Ncube lobbyists were holding meetings. It was not clear whether the talks also discussed the chairman position.
It is also said that the eThekwini regional caucus meeting collapsed in the early hours of Friday as some delegates were not in support of the pronouncement of the leadership nominated, that seems to have opened a door for the Dube-Ncube camp.
Party spokesman Nohlakanipho Ntombela earlier in the morning confirmed that proceedings were being delayed by delegates not showing up. There was no indication what time the conference was bound to start.
Dube-Ncube was earlier spotted entering the plenary, where a handful of delegates were seated. Late afternoon, the Harry Gwala region was also seen entering.
No formal programme had been distributed yet and treasurer-general Paul Mashatile was expected to open the conference.
It was still not clear whether President Cyril Ramaphosa’s would attend or address the conference as rumours continued to swirl that he was likely to be booed if he did show up.
