Police had to be called when chaos at the ANC Youth League provincial elective conference forced premier Phumulo Masualle and other ANC leaders to leave under guard.
Masualle, ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane, human settlements MEC Helen August-Sauls and numerous mayors had to be escorted out by security personnel.
Mabuyane bemoaned what he referred to as a “foreign tendency” in the ANC.
“We are disappointed by the kind of behaviour we’ve experienced. If things like those are allowed to continue, that will really taint the image of the party,” Mabuyane said.
“We should not have gatherings of the youth league that degenerate to that level.
“Normally in the party when you are not happy with something that doesn’t mean you must disrupt the conference, you can appeal.”
He said the party leadership will take necessary actions.
“This was a well-orchestrated plan just to disrupt and project us as the province in that manner. It is indeed worrying and I don’t think that as the leadership of the ANC we’ll take that smiling. Someone must be held accountable for that,” he said.
The chaos erupted just after 3am on Sunday morning when outgoing league provincial convener Ncedo Kumbaca announced that credentials had been adopted.
A delegate inside the conference told the Daily Dispatch that a disgruntled faction became rowdy and started singing, and then physical altercations broke out.
“There are several factions that hold different views as to who should lead the province. The disruption resonates mainly from that,” a delegate inside the conference said.
The source also said that the Nelson Mandela Metro region wanted to “dictate” their preferred candidate to be elected as chairman of the province.
“That region has about 93 voting delegates and is demanding chairmanship of the province. There are regions that have way more delegates than that, so their call is baseless.”
After the disruption the conference had to be adjourned for several hours.
The disruption that led to the adjournment was not the first.
As messages of support from the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) were being delivered, a group of delegates with T-shirts with “Joe Gqabi” written on the back came into the venue singing and disrupting proceedings for about 15 minutes.
Delivering the keynote address Masualle lashed out at the constant disruptions.
“We cannot stand idle and watch our conferences degenerating to chaos,” he said.
“We insist that ANC conferences must be orderly. We need young people to be led, and they can not be led by people who are chaotic,” Masualle said.
Attempts to get comment from outgoing youth league convener Kumbaca and coordinator Butsha Lali on the disruption were unsuccessful at the time of going to print.
The conference held at the Methodist Church in Wilsonia started very late as registrations of voting delegates took nearly two days to complete.
Delegates who spoke to the Dispatch complained they were turned away during the registration process and others put in their place.
“There are people that have been put as delegates of our branches. We do not know them,” said a branch delegate from the Great Kei region.
Former youth league national working committee member Nomfesane Nyathela said she was shocked when told she could not register as her name was not on the list.
“I arrived on Friday. I am a branch delegate from Mbashe, I was turned away. All those people that claim to be representing our branches, we do not know them,” she said.
The Dispatch learnt that of 22 Mbashe delegates only four were allowed to register and participate in the conference.
At the time of writing, the conference had not yet restarted and voting for leadership had not started either. —
[email protected]
