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Conference 'will finish on time'
18/12/2007 15:53 - (SA)
Polokwane - The African National Congress's Polokwane conference will finish on time on Thursday, party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Tuesday.
He was speaking after delays in the leadership elections and the early closure of the conference on Sunday night threw the programme, which includes closed sessions on policy issues, off schedule.
"The conference is going to finish on time because we are not dealing with policy discussions in the manner in which we did in the policy conference," Ngonyama said, referring to the ANC's policy conference in Midrand in June this year, where delegates engaged in detailed debate.
"Now we are dealing with resolutions relating to the policies. So it's not going to take that much time. We can actually pull it closer and it will be much shorter."
Asked if polling for the party's leadership positions, which is to be counted manually and not electronically, might push the conference beyond time, Ngonyama said: "I don't think so. Looking at the determination of the people here [delegates who started voting on Tuesday for the top six positions], I don't think so."
He said it would be too costly financially - the meeting has already set the party back a reported R30m - to let the conference run over time.
"And number two, many people will leave, because you're dealing with professionals. People are coming from different spheres of government, mayors, councillors and so on. So they've set aside only till Thursday."
The conference, attended by over 4 000 delegates, began on Sunday, and is scheduled to end at noon on Thursday.
The agenda for Thursday morning consists of the announcement of the new-look national executive committee, adoption of a formal conference declaration, and a closing address "by the president".
Tuesday's voters were deciding who that president will be.
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