ANC deputy secretary general, Jessie Duarte, on Sunday morning finally presented credentials to the 54th ANC conference after numerous delays over disputes.

The provincial executive committees of Free State and KwaZulu-Natal are excluded, according to the credentials seen by News24.

This follows the court judgments earlier in the week that the PEC's members cannot attend the conference. However, a heated debate was expected before the credentials could be officially adopted.

The debate was postponed late last night with Duarte saying the credentials were not completed and chairperson Baleka Mbete saying it needed to be "cleaned up".

KwaZulu-Natal is still leading in terms of the number of delegates. However, the initial number of delegates of 870 has declined to 804. They are followed by Mpumalanga, initially 736, now 708.

Free State, whose PEC and 14 branches have been ruled out by a court challenge, has dropped from 409 to 349.

North West has also been reduced from 538 and now stands at 446.

Sources inside the plenary meeting said Mantashe insisted that the credentials are authentic and should be adopted.

However, News24 understands delegates from KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga attempted to dispute the credentials presented.

The final number of delegates is 4 776. 

News24