Siphelele Nketo 

DISAGREEMENTS about who was eligible to get inside a community hall during an African National Congress (ANC) meeting in Extension 7 led to a fist exchange last Sunday, June 14.

The meeting was part of an ANC selection process for a ward councillor candidate.

Apparently the meeting was postponed due to disagreements about who qualified to be in the hall. The purpose of the meeting was to elect a councillor candidate to prepare for the upcoming municipal elections on November 4.

This is part of the ANC’s ongoing process of electing councillor candidates at a ward level. It was reported that on that day some members of the ANC demanded to get inside the hall despite not meeting the guidelines. 

The group was blocked from entering the hall to participate in the election process, and a fight ensued, which resulted in the postponement of the scheduled meeting. 

ANC Kokstad sub-regional task team coordinator Thoneka Mngonyama explained that the ANC procedure to form part of the meeting requires persons that appear on the 2024 IEC voter’s roll of the ward.

After several engagements with all involved parties, Mngonyama said that the meeting was able to sit on Tuesday to elect a councillor candidate without hostilities.

In some areas recently, the ANC process of electing councillor candidates dealt with challenges of membership concerns. As a result some members did not participate after being locked outside halls. To eliminate the rise of tensions among the party members Mngonyama assured that all disagreements and concerns will be addressed in a form of engagements.