Analyst: Reduction in voting delegates may disadvantage NDZ

Some 4700 delegates will be able to cast their vote in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, instead of the more than 5000 who were originally part of the voting delegation.

Credentials were adopted Sunday morning, with ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte announcing that the initial number decreased following Friday’s court rulings.

This comes after the provincial executive committee (PEC) in KwaZulu-Natal and 14 branches in both the Free State and North West were barred from voting as a result of Friday's court judgements.

Fikeni says the disqualified voting delegates will increase the pressure on Dlamini-Zuma, whom he believes was already playing catch-up to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

''I think the disqualified voting delegates may put a lot more pressure on Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who from nomination outcomes needed to catch up to Ramaphosa because in the main, the areas where you seem to have reduction ... are the areas which otherwise would've given her a boost.''

Fikeni admits his predictions may be inaccurate, given the close battle between the two presidential hopefuls.

''This is a close race, anything is possible, but for now what has happened in terms of credentials may put a lot more pressure on Nkosazana especially because the other presidential hopefuls such as Lindiwe Sisulu and Baleka Mbete are now beginning to endorse Cyril Ramaphosa.''

According to Duarte, voting is expected to take place later today and results announced Monday morning.

However, Fikeni says one must not hold their breath on Duarte's announcement, especially because the conference was delayed by a full day.

''I wouldn't put my bet on the morning process because a lot of verification checks may take us well into midday.''

The party hopes to get 200 delegates to cast their votes per round, adding it could still take a long time.

Duarte says despite this, they still hope to conclude the conference by Wednesday night.