The outcome of the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) KwaZulu-Natal elective conference is not yet set in stone. 27 delegates who were denied the right to vote for the top five officials have now been granted permission to vote.
Nonhlakha Khoza, who was announced as the provincial chairperson on Monday, won by just three votes over her rival Bongi Sithole-Moloi.
The final outcome of this elective conference now lies with the 27 delegates whose names have mysteriously re-surfaced after they did not appear on the voter’s roll.
Their votes will either confirm the already announced victor, Nonhlakha Khoza, or cause a shift. The conference started on Friday it has been marred by glitches around the verification of delegates.
The 27 delegates are from regions like General Gizenga Mpanza, iNkosi Bhambatha, and Josiah Gumede.
These delegates were adamant that they would lodge an objection if they were not allowed to vote.
“We are going to wait here until we get an explanation as to why we were not allowed to vote. We are determined to take the matter up to the national leadership.”
“During verification, my name was there but during the voting process, my name was not on the voter’s roll. When I asked the electoral staff, they said there is nothing they could do.”
“My name was also not in the voter’s roll, despite that initially my name was on the list during the verification process.”
ANC NEC member Pemmy Majodina who is presiding over the conference, says these votes will be added to those that have already been counted.
“They went to the voting station, and they were turned back because they did not appear on the voter’s roll. Two, they have done everything required to be on the register and be verified but it might have been a human error when we were uploading from the register to the voter’s roll. As a chair of the steering committee and I have acted accordingly by writing to the chairperson of the commission that ‘here, are 27 people and they must be allowed to vote for the top five and for the additional members’.”
Majodina says official results will be released once the outstanding delegates have voted.
ANCWL members challenge conference outcomes:
