Johannesburg - The first day of the ANC's much anticipated policy conference kicked off with a battle of songs between the Eastern Cape and a much larger group, made up of several provinces, which tried to drown out their call for a "change".
It all began with various groups entering the Nasrec Expo Centre’s hall six, singing traditional songs from the party’s liberation days - " Oliver Tambo bamb’isandla sam (Oliver Tambo hold my hand)" and " ANC kuzo lawula wena, nalapha kuzo lawula wena (ANC you will rule, even here you will rule)".
However, as more and more groups started to fill the hall, songs celebrating current particular leaders could be heard from the different regions.
The North West group sang a song praising its premier, Supra Mahumapelo - " silamulele Supra (Help us Supra)" - while a louder, larger group on the other side of the hall began singing " Zuma, Zuma wethu ".
The Eastern Cape branch then began singing " Thuma mina Oliver Tambo, siyababona bayoyika (Send me Oliver Tambo, we can see that these ones are scared)".
While singing this, the group made soccer gestures with their hands, signalling a change was needed, and began moving towards the large pro-Zuma group from KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Women’s League.