The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal is making a second attempt to convene its Provincial General Council (PGC) this week, after its first gathering was nullified due to widespread failures at the branch level.
The urgent rerun, ordered directly by ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula, is a final bid to secure the province’s delegate credentials just days before the party’s crucial National General Council (NGC) begins on Monday. The NGC is a key mid-term policy and strategic conference.
The core issue stems from numerous branches across the province failing to hold the mandatory Branch General Meetings (BGMs) required to properly elect and mandate delegates for the PGC, which in turn validates delegates for the national meeting.
A provincial spokesperson, addressing the reconvened council, explained the decision to rerun the process. “We actually took a decision that in those areas where there could have been a snail’s pace in the election of delegates, branches must be given an opportunity,” the spokesperson said. “In our province here in KZN… it was very clear that there are some branches that by the time we met last week… quite a few of them did not manage to actually designate delegates.”
The spokesperson insisted the do-over is not a sign of internal crisis. “So this rerun does not suggest any crisis. There is no crisis at all. It is just for us to perfect and sharpen the organizational processes and the systems,” they stated, describing the internal debates as “very robust, very intense.”
However, the logistical breakdown highlights the persistent organizational challenges within the ANC’s largest provincial structure. The province has been under the administration of a Provincial Task Team (PTT) since February, following a bruising performance in the 2024 general elections. The PTT’s mandate is renewal and rebuilding, but the branch-level disarray appears to remain significant.
Political analysts see the PGC nullification as a symptom of deeper problems. “The task team had a tough job of trying to recover from the losses it suffered in the general elections last year,” said one analyst. “But obviously, they have really struggled to fix the problems, and what we saw last week with the PGC is testament to that.”
In a related move, the ANC has extended the term of the provincial task team after its initial mandate expired last month. The party confirmed the PTT will continue to lead rebuilding efforts and will oversee the rollout of a roadmap towards a full provincial elective conference, now scheduled for early next year. This leaves the party with just months to stabilize its structures before the next critical test: the upcoming local government elections.