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It i s all systems go for the African National Congress's Western Cape provincial list conference to start tomorrow, after it was postponed two weeks ago by the national office because of logistical reasons.

"All nominees at the list conference are putting their fate in the hands of delegates... and there is no way of predetermining the result," said ANC provincial leader Ebrahim Rasool at a media briefing yesterday.

He said Saturday's conference to elect provincial and national public representatives would be the culmination of an extensive plan, with branches throughout the province being integral in the process.

"The ANC follows a most open and democratic process where our branches provide the vast majority of delegates.

"Cosatu, the South African Communist Party, the South African National Civics Organisation and the Congress of South African Students have also mandated delegates to attend the conference," which will be held at the Ikwezi community hall in Guguletu.

Rasool said because of the nature of such an open process, it was usually "fraught with tension" which the media and the ANC's political opponents sought to exploit.

However, Rasool said these tensions had been managed and predicted that his party's "machinery" would be unstoppable in the 2004 elections nationally and in the Western Cape.

ANC regional secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha, who flanked Rasool at the briefing, said that 472 delegates would attend the conference, with everybody accorded full voting status, except those deployed by the National Executive Committee - under the leadership of Northern Cape premier Manne Dipico - and others sent to facilitate the process.

Skwatsha said the two-week delay had given them an opportunity to iron out any logistical problems, with preparations having gone smoothly and no hiccups expected.

The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa would be monitoring the process.

Describing the criteria and character required of ANC public representatives in office, Skwatsha said this was determined by national list guidelines, which among other things required people who were "loyal, totally dedicated to work, people who were exemplary, not only in the ANC, but in communities" as well.

Skwatsha and Rasool presented a united front at the briefing, following much media speculation the past couple of weeks that they were in opposing camps jockeying for position and power in the province.

Lobbying at the conference was permitted but within strict parameters, with for example no lobbying allowed while people were in queues or within certain proximity of voting stations. – Sapa.

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