The officials, who were found to be irregularly appointed by the Public Service Commission in the Eastern Cape, were largely seen to be linked to former Eastern Cape transport MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe, who is currently ANC's member of provincial legislature.
As delegates from across SA arrived at their registration venue in Johannesburg for the ANC national elective conference, the Chris Hani region in the Eastern Cape was first through the gate due to issues related to photos submitted for accreditation.
ANC National Executive Committee member Aaron Motsoaledi says media reports about threats of violence at the Eastern Cape conference are inaccurate. While he believes that it was necessary to beef up security to avoid what happened at the 2017 provincial conference, he did admit that it was not.