- The ANC will conclude its national conference on January 5-6 in a hybrid session after the party failed to finalize political business in Nasrec in December.
- ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula says the conference has to resolve the party’s political discussions and constitutional amendments.
- According to Mbalula, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala debacle and the ANC’s integrity report will not be discussed.
ANC General Secretary Fikile Mbalula says the Phala Phala saga will not be discussed at the conclusion of the party’s national conference this week in Mangaung in the Free State.
The ANC needed to wrap up its national conference, first held in December, which adjourned with essential party issues unresolved.
The conference had not finalized decisions on political resolutions and constitutional amendments.
Mbalula said on Tuesday that the hybrid conference would conclude in Mangaung, with delegates from all nine provinces participating online.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala affair had dominated internal party discussions before the conference in December.
The conference was preceded by the report by the independent Section 89 panel which found that Ramaphosa had a case to answer in relation to the February 2020 burglary at his Limpopo farm.
The president, who filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court to challenge the report, survived a parliamentary vote on the adoption of the report. Had the report been adopted, an impeachment trial would have been instituted against him.
READ | ANC NEC backtracks on integrity commission report on Phala Phala
The ANC integrity commission report was expected to be presented at the national conference, but this did not happen.
Mbalula said that the report, or anything related to Phala Phala, will not be discussed by delegates. He said the ANC’s national executive committee would take up the matter.
“There will be no Phala Phala issue in the discussion at the ANC conference; there will be two issues on the table… finally, commission reports and constitutional amendments.
“The issue of the Phala Phala report has been referred to the NEC. The committee will deal with the Phala Phala issue if it arises,” Mbalula told a briefing at Luthuli House.
The ANC will make its annual declaration on January 8 in Mangaung after its conference concludes.
Meanwhile, a letter surfaced earlier this week revealing that the stadium where the event was to take place was dilapidated and not equipped to host the event.
In the latter, the Mangaung city manager warned the ANC to find an alternative venue because the Dr. Rantlai Molemela Stadium had no running water, fire safety certificate, or working elevators, and its toilets were vandalized.
However, Mbalula said that all these issues have been resolved.
“Obviously, the ANC cannot go to a stadium that is not safe. All the issues raised in the letter have been addressed, all the issues have been addressed,” Mbalula said.
