Video of ANC’s chaotic conference will be used as evidence

A 30-minute video of the disputed ANC Eastern Cape elective conference in September will be used as evidence on whether the gathering was legitimate or not.

The legitimacy of the conference has been called into question by a group aligned to former chairman Phumulo Masualle, who raised their concern with the ANC’s top leadership shortly after the conference.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, in an interview in East London on Tuesday, revealed that the newly elected leadership under Oscar Mabuyane submitted this piece of evidence to a team of ANC national working committee members on Monday.

The team spent two days in the Eastern Cape from Sunday, gathering information on whether the conference, which elected Mabuyane and his 35member team in early October, was properly constituted.

“There is video footage of the conference which goes on for about 30 minutes. We are going to sit and go patiently through it. Only after watching it, will we be able to write” a full working committee report to the national executive committee, said Mantashe. It was the national executive committee that would decide whether the provincial executive committee was a legitimate structure.

The video evidence was submitted by the provincial executive committee after it tabled a report of its own breakdown of events leading to its election early in October.

A team of former provincial executive committee members led by Masualle, submitted a complaint to Mantashe a few days after the conference.

A top ANC team led by President Jacob Zuma visited all eight party regions in the Eastern Cape on Sunday.

That visit came after conference delegates had thrown chairs at each other, resulting in at least 15 people being injured during the conference.

Mantashe said both groups were to blame for the chaos at the conference. He said that the fight was a disgrace.

He also defended his decision to deploy ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to the conference, saying this was one conference at which more ANC officials were supposed to be deployed because of the tension in the build-up to it.

A group of disgruntled ANC members forced their way into the conference venue on its first day, challenging the legitimacy of some of those who were accredited to vote.

“These comrades are complaining that Cyril came to address the conference.

“My point is that when there is a fight, it is even a bigger reason for officials to be here,” said Mantashe. It was a pity only one high-up official had attended the conference, he said.