ANCYL conference adjourned

2010-05-17 14:13

East London - The tumultuous ANC Youth League conference in the Eastern Cape, marred by a bomb scare, unruly delegates and registration problems, has been adjourned.

Organiser Mashwabada Gcilishe on Monday said the conference adjourned late on Sunday, mainly due to delegates becoming rowdy and unruly.

The ANCYL Eastern Cape provincial executive committee would meet soon to decide on a way forward, he said.

"... We had delegates inside who would sing while the chairman was trying to present his report."

The problem intensified as the conference attempted to adopt credentials.

Registration process

A number of irregularities with the registration process were identified by the delegates. Security had earlier alerted the organisers about registration tags which were wrongfully distributed.

Gcilishe said other problems identified by delegates included audit queries.

A bomb scare, which turned out to be a hoax, further delayed proceedings.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mtati Tana said the call about the bomb was received before 13:00.

"We arrived on the scene and conducted a search, but we could not find anything," he said. "It was a hoax."

Gcilishe was "troubled" by the issue of the bomb scare.

He said police informed delegates that the scare affected the International Convention Centre (ICC) in East London and the adjoining Regency Hotel.

However, the only people evacuated were the delegates in the ICC.

Split

ANCYL secretary general Vuyiswa Tulelo on Monday said the national leadership was waiting for a report from the province and would meet on Tuesday to discuss it. She would be in a position to comment afterwards.

This is the second time the conference has been postponed. The previous postponement was over the auditing of its branches.

Two candidates are in the running for the position of chairperson in the province: current provincial secretary Ayanda Matiti, who is aligned to ANCYL president Julius Malema and Mawande Ndakisa, who backs ANCYL deputy president Andile Lungisa.

The vote could affect the ANCYL's national conference in 2011, when it will elect a new president.

The split in the Eastern Cape ANCYL was clear.

Delegates supporting Matiti wore bright yellow T-shirts, with a photograph of their candidate alongside a picture of a smiling Malema.

On the back of the T-shirt was the slogan: "Defenders of the revolution."

Ndakisa supporters wore black ANCYL T-shirts.

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