ANC Secretary-General Cde Fikile Mbalula, alongside Convener of Deployees Cde Mmamoloko Kubayi and the Eastern Cape PEC, briefed the media on organisational readiness ahead of the Provincial Conference expected to take place this week.
Image: ANC
A BID to stop the ANC's Eastern Cape conference from going ahead is set to come before the KuGompo City High Court on Wednesday.
In one application, filed on Monday, Lwazi Rotya, Sinethemba Mpande and Nompumelelo Mzotywa said the branch approval rules were not followed, and the conference, scheduled to start on Friday, should therefore not take place.
The ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC), the party itself, secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, and provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi are respondents in the matter.
Rotya, Mpande and Mzotywa want the court to overturn the approval given by Mbalula on Wednesday last week and cancel the final verification report.
The PEC said 535 out of 554 branches meet the requirement.
That is above the 70% needed for the conference to proceed.
But the three said there was no proof from the party’s electronic membership system to confirm who is eligible and that Mbalula's report was issued too late.
They argued this was the only reliable way to verify delegates, and without it, the process was not trustworthy.
They also said there were still unresolved branch disputes that Mbalula needed to address.
“The ANC, through Mbalula, is directed to submit a report to this court by affidavit, setting out how each of the branch disputes will be resolved, within 30 days of this order, and to copy the applicants when submitting such reports,” the applicant's court papers read.
They also want it to be “declared that the provincial conference may only be held once the ANC, through its NEC, has provided the report and confirmed by resolution that the said disputes have been resolved".
In addition, they asked that the decision to convene the provincial conference be suspended, pending the determination of the final relief.
In a separate application, party members from the Joe Gqabi region are also seeking to stop the conference from taking place.
Obedient Coetzee, Zwelithini Goodwill Mqokwana, Yandiswa Zweni, Nomalungisa Hona, Siyabulela Nxozi and Nontutuzelo Hlanjwa are the applicants.
The respondents included the ANC, the national executive committee, President Cyril Ramaphosa, national chair Gwede Mantashe, Mbalula, the PEC, and Ngcukayitobi.
Ngcukayitobi last week wrote to ANC national leaders, raising concerns about alleged serious irregularities in the lead-up to the conference.
The conference will see premier Oscar Mabuyane going up against Ngcukayitobi.
Ngcukayitobi also sent a letter withdrawing invitations to the conference on Monday.
In the letter, Ngcukayitobi said: "This serves to kindly inform you that a correspondence dated March 20 2026, which sought to invite you to the ANC provincial conference, is duly retracted.
"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused on your part."
Mbalula convened a meeting with the ANC Eastern Cape PEC on Tuesday during which a progress report was presented.
"As the ANC, we are committed to a comprehensive renewal process, focusing on strengthening our organisational capacity, enhancing our accountability, and restoring the trust of the people," he said.
Cape Times