African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mbombela, in Mpumalanga where he held consecutive meetings with ANC party structures to address the infighting and violence within the province’s branches.

Ramaphosa instructed that the long awaited elective conference, which was first meant to take place in 2018, be convened as soon as possible.

“The branches gathered here and I had an exchange in views with them and they portrayed a sense of unity and there was a broad agreement that the conference should be held as soon as possible. They actually wanted a date from me and my response was that the office of the Secretary General will set the date for the conference. The branches seem very keen to go to the conference because they have done the preparatory work at branch level, which is good news and they do qualify to go to the conference,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa also urged ANC branches to choose leadership that will unify and take the province forward.

He noted that party’s decline in electoral performance in the area and said assessments at the sub-regional level would be carried out.

He has also asked ANC branches to go down to the ward levels to undertake assessments and better understanding the drop in electoral numbers.

“There are a number of reasons… as to why the ANC in this province got the returns that we got, and they range from the shortest time they had to campaign, unavailability of electoral materials and paraphernalia. Service delivery challenges were also raised, as well as divisions,” Ramaphosa explained.

He said he was satisfied with the meeting held with the structures, describing it as a cleansing process that will see branches strengthened.

“I think because we are now going through this cathartic moment, people are going to get the grip of what needs to be done. Every branch leader who is here today will go home reinvigorated and determined to do better for the ANC,” he said.