ANC conference postponed

2008-07-14 19:08

Pretoria - The Mpumalanga African National Congress (ANC) conference has been postponed, a provincial spokesperson said on Monday.

"We were in an assessment meeting this morning (Monday) and we realised that we are not ready... we realised that it would be over-ambitious, hence it (the conference) has been postponed," said ANC spokesperson Paul Mbenyane.

The conference was initially scheduled to be held at the weekend at a resort in Badplaas, Mpumalanga. About 400 member branches in the province were expected to attend.

"We realised that branches were still holding meetings to nominate delegates ahead of the conference. Another thing is that some of the branches still have to nominate delegates to represent them at the conference. Not all branches have done this," said Mbenyane.

A new date would be announced on Tuesday.

Mbenyane said a recent brawl at a meeting to elect a new branch executive was not the reason for the postponement. Seven people were arrested following the brawl, which saw several ANC members hospitalised.

"It has nothing to do with it, one branch cannot stop everything."

Mbenyane said investigations into the fight were at "an advanced stage".

He could not say whether this would be resolved before the start of the conference, but added that it needed to be "concluded urgently".

- SAPA