The African National Congress's (ANC's) national executive committee (NEC) will attempt to finalise the party's membership numbers on Friday to pave the road for the nomination process for leadership positions. 

The ANC moved forward with its NEC, which was initially intended to occur on Sunday.

ANC branches were set to begin filing nominations for leadership positions for the December conference on 7 September.

But the process was halted as the party could not finalise its membership audit on time.

On Wednesday, ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile wrote to provincial secretaries and branch chairpersons, saying they should hold back on hosting branch general meetings (BGMs).

The letter, which News24 has seen, stated that BGMs would take place after the nomination process was opened and the NEC had finalised credentials.

The credentials will give members an outline of how many delegates each branch will be allowed to bring to the conference in December.

Mashatile stated in the letter, "Accordingly, we request all BGMs only be held after the special NEC has adopted the proposed credentials and the allocation of delegates to branches has been communicated by 12 September."

The matter of credentials has often been a hot-button issue for ANC conferences. This is because those attending the conferences can shift the balance of power in favour of particular factions. 

Delegates can spend hours and days debating credentials, as witnessed at several ANC conferences this year. 

While the ANC's nomination process has yet to open, the party's provinces started pronouncing on their preferred candidates. 

The ANC in Limpopo backed President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term at a meeting this week. 

Similar pronouncements are expected as more ANC provinces hold meetings to cement their mandates.