The 12th Greater Tshwane Region ANC conference finally got underway on Friday in Pretoria.
The holding of the conference was mired by controversy and infighting caused by two factions within the organisation; namely the “Bopha group” allegedly led by current MMC for Utilities in Tshwane Frans Boshielo and the other faction known as “Second Term group” allegedly led by current City of Tshwane Municipality Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise and party Secretary George Matjila.
The Bopha group had taken its grievances to the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday seeking an interdict that would halt the conference from proceeding, but the court ruled that it can’t interfer in the internal affairs of any political party and that the said warring factions must sort out their differences themselves.
This verdict paved the way for the conference to proceed as initially planned.
Explaining reasons that had led to the Bopha faction trying to stop the conference via a court of law, the party’s Greater Tshwane Region Secretary George Matjila said Ward 33 in the Mabopane Winterveldt Ga-Rankuwa (MAWIGA) region and also Ward 20 wanted their branch elections to be rerun as they opined that there were irregularities during the voting, with the purpose of making sure that delegates going to the said conference are those who would vote for “the Second Term” faction.
The conference started later than the scheduled time due to the the long process of registering and verifying delegates.
It emerged that issues which had led to the Bopha faction going to Court in order to stop the conference had not been resolved as yet and that there were also people who had passed away but were actually registered as delegates from Ward 92 in Montana.
In denying the aforesaid assertions, Matjila said the following:
“At the moment there are no outstanding matters that are on the table of the Dispute Resolution Committee and the issue of deceased voters having been registered as delegates is not true, but should be attributed to glitches in our systems.”
In his address to the delegates, incumbent ANC Chairperson Eugene Bonzo Modise said the following:
“After being voted into executive positions of the ANC Greater Tshwane Region, those elected must then visit all the ANC wards in Tshwane to show their appreciation and intent to work with all the people in those wards.”
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who is also the Gauteng chairperson of the ANC, said in his remarks at the conference that if the ANC cannot address and resolve its critical issues, then its relevance and purpose would be questionable and necessitate external support to implement resolutions and revitalise the organisation with fresh ideas.
“The conference’s agenda must also include issues like education, health, crime and illegal immigration,” said Lesufi.
The conference started on Friday and will run until Sunday 14 December 2025.
Friday was dedicated to the registration of delegates, verifying their credentials, programme and reports, as well as open sessions with the media.
Saturday will be dedicated to Commissions, Commissions Reports- Back, Nomination of Regional officials and Announcement of Regional Regional officials.
Sunday will be dedicated to Nominations for Regional Executive Members, Voting and Resolutions, Announcement of Additional Regional Executive Committee Members, Conference Declarations and Closing Address.
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