By- A group of angry ANC members in the Free State province has disrupted the party’s elective, forcing the halt of the registration process.

Provincial ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) spokesperson Oupa Khoabane said: “Registration for the conference has temporarily been suspended. Notification will be made once the time for resumption has been concluded.”

TimesLIVE previously reported that last year the Free State and Western Cape were the only two provinces that could not convene their conferences before the party’s national conference last month.

The countless delays in the Free State were credited to clashes between branches still beholden to former Free State strongman Ace Magashule and branches pushing the renewal agenda.

National executive committee member David Mahlobo said he was in a meeting dealing with the issues that had led to the temporary suspension of the conference.

Earlier on Friday, Mahlobo conceded that the lead-up to the conference had not been smooth.

“We know that the structures in this province had to be reconstituted from scratch from branch, regional and until this provincial level where we are at. We are satisfied by the work of the IPC that they have done in terms of putting interim committees in branches and all of these branches now have proper structures in place. But the road has not been smooth or easy,” he said.

“There are a number of instances in a number of regions where there are claims and allegations of parallel branches. The other allegation being made is the tampering with the delegates that are supposed to attend the conference.

“We need to indicate that there has been a credentials committee that the IPC has worked with, our team of officials in head office and NEC members including Dina Pule, Pinky Kekana and Mzwandile Masina. They have dealt with all the branches which had those issues and we are satisfied that these matters have been dealt with to our satisfaction.”

Mahlobo added: “We had planned that we would have done preregistration by yesterday [Thursday] and concluded our registration before lunch today before conference starts, but … there are issues of some people claiming they might have been excluded. But the leadership of the NEC, working with the IPC and regional leaders, are attending to those issues.”

He appealed for the conference to be allowed to continue without disruptions.

“We want comrades to avoid confrontation and conflict. Nobody is going to be left behind. Legitimate people who are supposed to attend conference will attend.”

TimesLIVE