ANC KZN chair Sihle Zikalala has commended branches of the party for their conduct and discipline during the eighth provincial elective conference, which began on Thursday.

Zikalala was speaking to journalists on Saturday after retaining his position as chair of the provincial executive committee.

“We need to focus on unity of the organization, renewal and also build the capacity of branches to discharge the mandate of servicing communities,” he said.

He said they would be convening the Provincial General Council in the next two months to take forward the discussions they could not conclude during the three-day conference.

“Obviously we have been mandated by the national leadership, as per the address of president Cyril Ramaphosa, that our attention will now turn to the elections campaign for next year’s general election. The conference will help us to swiftly move and concentrate on what we will do in relation to the elections campaign,” he said.

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He said as chair of the party in the province he did not have his own plans but “plans of the ANC” which were to “maximise unity”.

“The plans of the ANC are to maximise unity. The plan of the ANC is to ensure that the ANC becomes more effective in issues of the community. Therefore, we will have that drive that positions the ANC in a manner that is outward looking, then dealing with internal issues.

“I come from a political school of thought that says the ANC is in a revolution and the revolution should be about change and qualitative change must be seen and that’s what we will be doing,” he said.

He said the conference was now at a stage where delegates were concluding all its processes.

He said the process of nominating additional members was underway and voting would begin soon afterwards.

“Results will be presented tomorrow (Sunday), where only regions will be present,” he said.